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When using ILM or Powershell to script the provisioning of ExchangeLabs mailboxes it is really important to remember that the authentication mechanism used to gain access to you mailbox is a Windows Live ID. Even thought an AD account is created on the back-end this is never really accessed by the user; it is only used to support the Exchange feature set.

Since you primary method of authentication is a Live ID, there are certain restrictions that apply to passwords on Windows Live. In order to mitigate any exceptions it is recommended that the following rules are followed when creating a password.

Note that this will cause you some pain when you use password sync from ILM to ExchangeLabs as well so try to educate your users regarding these rules and try to use password complexity on your local AD.

Password rules

• The password is case-sensitive.
• The password can contain uppercase letters and lowercase letters.
• The password can contain numbers.
• The password can contain the following ASCII text characters: ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ * ( ) _ + - = { } | [ ] : " ; ' > ? , . /
• The minimum password length is six characters.
• The maximum password length is 16 characters.

Password restrictions

The password can’t contain any of the following items:

• Spaces
• Non-English characters
• The character &
• The character <
• The account name part of the e-mail address. For example, if the e-mail address is user@contoso.com, the password can’t contain user. This restriction isn’t case-sensitive. Therefore, USER or User can’t be used in the password for user@contoso.com.
• The answer to the Windows Live ID secret question that helps you reset your password if you forget it. For example, if the Windows Live ID secret question is Mother’s birthplace, and Seattle is the answer, the password can’t contain Seattle. This restriction isn’t case-sensitive. Therefore, SEATTLE or seattle can’t be used in the password.