documentation_complete: true

title: 'Set Account Expiration Parameters'

description: |-
    Accounts can be configured to be automatically disabled
    after a certain time period,
    meaning that they will require administrator interaction to become usable again.
    Expiration of accounts after inactivity can be set for all accounts by default
    and also on a per-account basis, such as for accounts that are known to be temporary.
    To configure automatic expiration of an account following
    the expiration of its password (that is, after the password has expired and not been changed),
    run the following command, substituting <tt><i>NUM_DAYS</i></tt> and <tt><i>USER</i></tt> appropriately:
    <pre>$ sudo chage -I <i>NUM_DAYS USER</i></pre>
    Accounts, such as temporary accounts, can also be configured to expire on an explicitly-set date with the
    <tt>-E</tt> option.
    The file <tt>/etc/default/useradd</tt> controls
    default settings for all newly-created accounts created with the system's
    normal command line utilities.
