Manage passwords for IAM users (original) (raw)

IAM users who use the AWS Management Console to work with AWS resources must have a password in order to sign in. You can create, change, or delete a password for an IAM user in your AWS account.

After you have assigned a password to a user, the user can sign in to the AWS Management Console using the sign-in URL for your account, which looks like this: 

https://12-digit-AWS-account-ID or alias.signin.aws.amazon.com/console

For more information about how IAM users sign in to the AWS Management Console, see How to sign in to AWS in the AWS Sign-In User Guide.

Even if your users have their own passwords, they still need permissions to access your AWS resources. By default, a user has no permissions. To give your users the permissions they need, you assign policies to them or to the groups they belong to. For information about creating users and groups, see IAM Identities . For information about using policies to set permissions, see Change permissions for an IAM user.

You can grant users permission to change their own passwords. For more information, seePermit IAM users to change their own passwords. For information about how users access your account sign-in page, see How to sign in to AWS in the_AWS Sign-In User Guide_.

Topics

Creating, changing, or deleting an IAM user password (console)

You can use the AWS Management Console to manage passwords for your IAM users.

The access needs of your users can change over time. You might need to enable a user intended for CLI access to have console access, change a user's password because they receive the email with their credentials, or delete a user when they leave your organization or no longer need AWS access.

To create an IAM user password (console)

Use this procedure to give a user console access by creating a password that is associated with the username.

classic IAM console

  1. Follow the sign-in procedure appropriate to your user type as described in the topic How to sign in to AWS in the AWS Sign-In User Guide.
  2. On the IAM Console Home page, in the left navigation pane, enter your query in the Search IAM text box.
  3. In the navigation pane, choose Users.
  4. Choose the name of the user whose password you want to create.
  5. Choose the Security credentials tab, and then underConsole sign-in, choose Enable console access.
  6. In the Enable console access dialog box, selectReset password, then choose whether to have IAM generate a password or create a custom password:
    • To have IAM generate a password, choose Autogenerated password.
    • To create a custom password, choose Custom password, and type the password.
  7. To require the user to create a new password when signing in, chooseRequire password change at the next sign-in.
  8. To require the user to use the new password immediately, selectRevoke active console sessions. This attaches an inline policy to the IAM user that denies the user access to resources if their credentials are older than the time specified by the policy.
  9. Choose Reset password
  10. The Console passworddialog informs you that yoiu have enabled the user's new password. To view the password so you can share it with the user, choose Show in the Console password dialog box. Select Download .csv file to download a file with the user's credentials.
Important

For security reasons, you cannot access the password after completing this step, but you can create a new password at any time.

The console displays a status message informing you that console access has been enabled.

To change the password for an IAM user (console)

Use this procedure to update a password that is associated with the username.

classic IAM console

  1. Follow the sign-in procedure appropriate to your user type as described in the topic How to sign in to AWS in the AWS Sign-In User Guide.
  2. On the IAM Console Home page, in the left navigation pane, enter your query in the Search IAM text box.
  3. In the navigation pane, choose Users.
  4. Choose the name of the user whose password you want to change.
  5. Choose the Security credentials tab, and then underConsole sign-in, choose Manage console access.
  6. In the Manage console access dialog box, selectReset password, then choose whether to have IAM generate a password or create a custom password:
    • To have IAM generate a password, choose Autogenerated password.
    • To create a custom password, choose Custom password, and type the password.
  7. To require the user to create a new password when signing in, chooseRequire password change at the next sign-in.
  8. To require the user to use the new password immediately, selectRevoke active console sessions. This attaches an inline policy to the IAM user that denies the user access to resources if their credentials are older than the time specified by the policy.
  9. Choose Reset password
  10. The Console passworddialog informs you that yoiu have enabled the user's new password. To view the password so you can share it with the user, choose Show in the Console password dialog box. Select Download .csv file to download a file with the user's credentials.
Important

For security reasons, you cannot access the password after completing this step, but you can create a new password at any time.

The console displays a status message informing you that console access has been updated.

To delete (disable) an IAM user password (console)

Use this procedure to delete a password that is associated with the username, removing console access for the user.

Important

You can prevent an IAM user from accessing the AWS Management Console by removing their password. This prevents them from signing in to the AWS Management Console using their sign-in credentials. It does not change their permissions or prevent them from accessing the console using an assumed role. If the user has active access keys, they continue to function and allow access through the AWS CLI, Tools for Windows PowerShell, AWS API, or the AWS Console Mobile Application.

classic IAM console

  1. Follow the sign-in procedure appropriate to your user type as described in the topic How to sign in to AWS in the AWS Sign-In User Guide.
  2. On the IAM Console Home page, in the left navigation pane, enter your query in the Search IAM text box.
  3. In the navigation pane, choose Users.
  4. Choose the name of the user whose password you want to delete.
  5. Choose the Security credentials tab, and then underConsole sign-in, choose Manage console access.
  6. To require the user to stop using the console immediately, selectRevoke active console sessions. This attaches an inline policy to the IAM user that denies the user access to resources if their credentials are older than the time specified by the policy.
  7. Choose Disable access

The console displays a status message informing you that console access has been disabled.

Creating, changing, or deleting an IAM user password (AWS CLI)

You can use the AWS CLI API to manage passwords for your IAM users.

Important

When you delete a user's password, the user can no longer sign in to the AWS Management Console. If the user has active access keys, they continue to function and allow access through the AWS CLI, Tools for Windows PowerShell, or AWS API function calls. When you use the AWS CLI, Tools for Windows PowerShell, or AWS API to delete a user from your AWS account, you must first delete the password using this operation. For more information, see Deleting an IAM user (AWS CLI).

To revoke a user's active console sessions before a specified time (AWS CLI)
  1. To embed an inline policy that revokes an IAM user's active console sessions before a specified time, use the following inline policy and run this command: aws iam put-user-policy
    This inline policy denies all permissions and includes the [aws:TokenIssueTime](./reference%5Fpolicies%5Fcondition-keys.html#condition-keys-tokenissuetime) condition key. It revokes the user's active console sessions before the specified time in the Condition element of the inline policy. Replace theaws:TokenIssueTime condition key value with your own value.
{  
  "Version": "2012-10-17",  
  "Statement": {  
    "Effect": "Deny",  
    "Action": "*",  
    "Resource": "*",  
    "Condition": {  
      "DateLessThan": {  
        "aws:TokenIssueTime": "2014-05-07T23:47:00Z"  
      }  
    }  
  }  
}
  1. (Optional) To list the names of the inline policies embedded in the IAM user, run this command: aws iam list-user-policies
  2. (Optional) To view the named inline policy embedded in the IAM user, run this command: aws iam get-user-policy

Creating, changing, or deleting an IAM user password (AWS API)

You can use the AWS API to manage passwords for your IAM users.

To create a password (AWS API)
  1. (Optional) To determine whether a user has a password, call this operation: GetLoginProfile
  2. To create a password, call this operation: CreateLoginProfile
To change a user's password (AWS API)
  1. (Optional) To determine whether a user has a password, call this operation: GetLoginProfile
  2. To change a password, call this operation: UpdateLoginProfile
To delete (disable) a user's password (AWS API)
  1. (Optional) To determine whether a user has a password, run this command: GetLoginProfile
  2. (Optional) To determine when a password was last used, run this command: GetUser
  3. To delete a password, run this command: DeleteLoginProfile
Important

When you delete a user's password, the user can no longer sign in to the AWS Management Console. If the user has active access keys, they continue to function and allow access through the AWS CLI, Tools for Windows PowerShell, or AWS API function calls. When you use the AWS CLI, Tools for Windows PowerShell, or AWS API to delete a user from your AWS account, you must first delete the password using this operation. For more information, see Deleting an IAM user (AWS CLI).

To revoke a user's active console sessions before a specified time (AWS API)
  1. To embed an inline policy that revokes an IAM user's active console sessions before a specified time, use the following inline policy and run this command: PutUserPolicy
    This inline policy denies all permissions and includes the [aws:TokenIssueTime](./reference%5Fpolicies%5Fcondition-keys.html#condition-keys-tokenissuetime) condition key. It revokes the user's active console sessions before the specified time in the Condition element of the inline policy. Replace theaws:TokenIssueTime condition key value with your own value.
{  
  "Version": "2012-10-17",  
  "Statement": {  
    "Effect": "Deny",  
    "Action": "*",  
    "Resource": "*",  
    "Condition": {  
      "DateLessThan": {  
        "aws:TokenIssueTime": "2014-05-07T23:47:00Z"  
      }  
    }  
  }  
}
  1. (Optional) To list the names of the inline policies embedded in the IAM user, run this command: ListUserPolicies
  2. (Optional) To view the named inline policy embedded in the IAM user, run this command: GetUserPolicy