What's the maximum password length?

I found a post from like 2011 saying the 360 only accepts a max of 12 characters. I'm curious if that's still the case or what. If so, it's no wonder people get hacked. I want my password longer than a *** CD key. I'm also wondering if special characters
are allowed or only letters and numbers.

:)

 

Maximum Password INPUT length BUG!!!

Hi NuAngel,

I believe this is a known issue. However, you may want to additionally use two-step authentication on your account, particularly enabling an authenticator app, which you can do here:

Sign in to your Microsoft account

The Xbox One will take the 20-character password and then ask for the code, while for the Xbox 360 you will need to generate an App Password (same link as above) which gives you a random, lengthy password to enter.

This allows you to keep the very long password on your account and also lets you sign in on Xbox 360.

 

Maximum Password INPUT length BUG!!!

I'm a bit of a security nut, and my Microsoft Account is connected to a few more services than just Xbox Live - so I recently created a lengthy password for myself (20+ characters - yes it's a pain, but I have it down pat and can type it quickly).

When I booted up my Xbox 360, it of course noticed the change in password and asked me to sign back in to my account. Email address is already there, so I hit the start button, and when I go to type in my password, it stops typing at around 16 characters.
What am I supposed to do if my account password is longer than that!?

I tried just carrying on, assuming just because it stopped on the screen doesn't mean it isn't registering the input, but to no avail. Just to make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN I wasn't typing it incorrectly (it *is* lengthy, so there is potential for a typo, I admit),
I attempted it using the on screen keyboard, the controller-keypad, and I even plugged in a keyboard via USB.

The Xbox One does not have this issue, I was able to plugin a keyboard and get on to my Xbox One in a matter of seconds.

A 16 character limit also just seems RIPE for some kind of buffer-overflow exploit to me, too - like hitting backspace 28 times in Linux up until last year. C'mon, Microsoft, this needs fixed, and proper password support needs to be allowed. Limiting the
security of your users to a password length of YOUR choosing is antiquated - Microsoft seems to be aware of that, just not the Xbox division.

 

Hey there, NoLifeDGenerate! Very good questions! I've got all the answers here for you, and hope they help you out with your password creation.

The maximum character limit is 16, and you are able to use special characters from the number keys. The information you found was before we updated our password requirements from 6-12 characters to 8-16 at the end of 2012.

Please do let us know if you have further questions! We'll do our best to get you the answers you're wanting!

 

Ah, thanks. That really should be noted where you can change your password on the site.

 

This is so dumb! Who on earth in the 21st century would limit password length only to 16 characters? I changed my password from 16 characters to 19 recently and figured out I was logged out and not able to login again!

 

Hey StartFromJames,

Sorry to hear about the issue, be sure to keep your password between 8-16 characters. Since this is is an older thread, please post a new thread if you need any assistance in the future. Thanks!