Enable password encryption

ComputerIntune-readyLAPS_ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled

Supported on At least Microsoft Windows 10 or later

23H2 · 1.0

What it does

When you enable this setting, the managed password is encrypted before being sent to Active Directory. Enabling this setting has no effect unless 1) the password has been configured to be backed up to Active Directory and 2) the Active Directory domain functional level is at Windows Server 2016 or above. If this setting is enabled, and the domain functional level is at or above Windows Server 2016, the managed account password is encrypted. If this setting is enabled, and the domain functional level is less than Windows Server 2016, the managed account password is not backed up to the directory. If this setting is disabled, the managed account password is not encrypted. This setting will default to enabled if not configured. See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2188435 for more information.

What it writes

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\LAPS
Value name: ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled
When enabled: DWORD 1
When disabled: DWORD 0

In Intune

No native CSP; import the ADMX (Intune-ready).

From Microsoft's Policy CSP DDF files (DDF v2 Files, February 2026), read 18 Oct 2026.

Security baselines

Microsoft's Windows 11 v26H2 Security Baseline v2 sets this to Enabled, in its GPO “MSFT Windows 11 26H2 - Computer”.

Policy value ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled: Sets ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled to 1 (REG_DWORD).

Read from the registry.pol files in the baselines' GPO backups, downloaded from Microsoft's Security Compliance Toolkit. All baselines

Configure and deploy

Choose a state; the output below is generated from the template for exactly that.

Enabled · Computer · template defaults

Registry file (.reg)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\LAPS]
"ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled"=dword:00000001

PowerShell

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Enable password encryption
# Name: LAPS_ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: LAPS.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\LAPS' -Name 'ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 1

The OMA-URI is an inferred ADMX-backed Policy CSP candidate derived from the source ADMX file name and policy name.
Some Microsoft policies use built-in Policy CSP pages whose area names don't match the ADMX file name, so verify the candidate against Microsoft Learn before deployment.

ADMX profile candidate (OMA-URI)

./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_LAPS/LAPS_ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled

ADMX SyncML candidate

<SyncML xmlns="SYNCML:SYNCML1.2">
  <SyncBody>
    <Replace>
      <CmdID>1</CmdID>
      <Item>
        <Meta>
          <Format>chr</Format>
          <Type>text/plain</Type>
        </Meta>
        <Target>
          <LocURI>./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_LAPS/LAPS_ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled</LocURI>
        </Target>
        <Data>&lt;enabled/&gt;</Data>
      </Item>
    </Replace>
    <Final/>
  </SyncBody>
</SyncML>

Intune remediation scripts

Detection

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
$reasons = [System.Collections.Generic.List[string]]::new()

function Test-RegistryValueExists {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    return $null -ne (Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
}

function Test-RegistryValueEquals {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Kind,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Expected
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    $valueObject = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($null -eq $valueObject) {
        return $false
    }

    $actual = $valueObject.$Name
    switch ($Kind) {
        'String' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'ExpandString' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'DWord' { return [uint32]$actual -eq [uint32]$Expected }
        'QWord' { return [uint64]$actual -eq [uint64]$Expected }
        'MultiString' {
            $actualArray = @($actual)
            $expectedArray = @($Expected)
            if ($actualArray.Count -ne $expectedArray.Count) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Count; $index++) {
                if ([string]$actualArray[$index] -cne [string]$expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        'Binary' {
            $actualArray = [byte[]]$actual
            $expectedArray = [byte[]]$Expected
            if ($actualArray.Length -ne $expectedArray.Length) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Length; $index++) {
                if ($actualArray[$index] -ne $expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        default { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
    }
}

# Policy: Enable password encryption
# Name: LAPS_ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: LAPS.admx

$isMatch = Test-RegistryValueEquals -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\LAPS' -Name 'ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled' -Kind 'DWord' -Expected 1
if (-not $isMatch) {
    $reasons.Add('Value mismatch: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\LAPS\ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled') | Out-Null
}

if ($reasons.Count -eq 0) {
    Write-Output 'Compliant'
    exit 0
}

$reasons | ForEach-Object { Write-Output $_ }
exit 1

Remediation

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Enable password encryption
# Name: LAPS_ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: LAPS.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\LAPS' -Name 'ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 1

History 3 retained releases

22H2 · 3.015 Jul 2024
- Added in this release.

1 later release left it unchanged.

Template

Internal name: LAPS_ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled
Namespace: Microsoft.Policies.LAPS
Template file: LAPS.admx
Release: Windows 11 23H2 · 1.0 · file set d784d0ea5f14a680…

Definition, editor controls and support

Definition

<policy class="Machine" displayName="$(string.LAPS_ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled)" explainText="$(string.LAPS_ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled_Help)" key="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\LAPS" name="LAPS_ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled" valueName="ADPasswordEncryptionEnabled" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.LAPS:LAPS_CAT" />
      <supportedOn ref="Microsoft.Policies.LAPS:SUPPORTED_Windows10" />
      <enabledValue>
        <decimal value="1" />
      </enabledValue>
      <disabledValue>
        <decimal value="0" />
      </disabledValue>
    </policy>

Editor controls

Supported platforms and category

Microsoft.Policies.LAPS:category:LAPS_CAT
<category displayName="$(string.LAPS)" name="LAPS_CAT" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:System" />
    </category>
Microsoft.Policies.LAPS:definition:SUPPORTED_Windows10
<definition displayName="$(string.SUPPORTED_Windows10)" name="SUPPORTED_Windows10" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:System
<category displayName="$(string.System)" explainText="$(string.System_Help)" name="System" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
Microsoft.Policies.LAPS:category:LAPS_CAT
<category displayName="$(string.LAPS)" name="LAPS_CAT" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:System" />
    </category>
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.LAPS:LAPS">LAPS</string></strings>
Microsoft.Policies.LAPS:definition:SUPPORTED_Windows10
<definition displayName="$(string.SUPPORTED_Windows10)" name="SUPPORTED_Windows10" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.LAPS:SUPPORTED_Windows10">At least Microsoft Windows 10 or later</string></strings>
Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:System
<category displayName="$(string.System)" explainText="$(string.System_Help)" name="System" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:System">System</string><string id="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:System_Help">Allows configuration of various system component settings.</string></strings>