Synchronize Passwords

Question

We have just begun migrating OnPrem Exchange accounts to O365, and I had a question about the Synchronize Passwords option under the Office 365 area of Adaxes. Currently the option is unchecked for our tenants, do we need to activate this checkbox to ensure that password changes made in Adaxes will sync up to O365 Exchange? If we leave it unchecked, will the passwords be out of sync (Windows logins will be changed to the new password, but O365 will not be changed)?

Thank you!

Answer 1

Hello,

The Synchronize passwords option is needed to update user passwords immediately after their password is set or changed in Adaxes. If you keep the option unchecked, there are 2 possibilities:

• If your AD accounts are synchronized with Office 365 using DirSync, and you have Password Synchronization implemented, the passwords will be eventually updated in Office 365 via DirSync upon the nearest synchronization event.
• If you don't use DirSync or don't have Password Synchronization implemented, passwords will not be synchronized.

Comments

Excellent, thank you! That is exactly what I needed to know.

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As an update, we have checked the box, however now we get the following error when passwords are reset by the Service Desk using an existing Adaxes web portal page:

"Failed to reset password in Office 365. You cannot reset a password for a federated user."

Are there changes we need to make on the portal page side? Or in O365? Or do you need more details? I'm guessing that DIRSYNC is still syncing the password every 3 hours, but I'm not really sure.

We use local AD, but the users have access to a Sharepoint Online page (that they access with their on-prem credentials via Azure AD group permissions).

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Hello,

It looks like in such an environment, passwords are write back attributes and can be changed on premises only. You cannot change passwords directly in Office 365.

We suggest disabling the Synchronize Passwords option and let DirSync update passwords in Office 365. For more information, have a look at the following thread on Microsoft Support forums: https://community.office365.com/en-us/f/613/t/7737.