If it’s greater than five, we’ll use another IF function to see if we’ll use an uppercase (6-10) letter by referring to the value in cell G100 or a lowercase (11-15) letter by using the value in cell H100. Next, I used nested IF functions to provide three possibilities: If the number is between one and five, we’ll refer to cell I100, where we’ll generate the value for a numeric character. To begin, I want to generate a number between one and 15 using this code: For this spreadsheet, I wanted an equal chance of generating an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, and a number. However, if you multiply this number by a particular value, you can generate a number within a specified range. By itself, the function returns a decimal value between 0 and 1.
#File password creator generator#
The heart of the random password generator is the RAND() function. Returns the character with the ASCII number provided in the argumentĬombines the characters in eight cells into an eight-character password Test the generated number to determine the character type Generate a random number within a given range The following information about how I designed the spreadsheet should be helpful if you want to alter the design to generate passwords that are even more “random.” Here is the method I used to combine several Excel functions (see Figure A) to build the password generator. And beware, some users may want to write down their random password and keep it near their PC, a strategy that defeats the purpose.
#File password creator cracked#
Of course, convincing your users to adopt them instead of something more easily cracked is your next task. After opening the spreadsheet, simply press the key to generate a random password that can be assigned to users.Īs you can see, Excel makes it easy to generate random passwords on the fly. Even better, the password generator lets you combine uppercase and lowercase letters with numbers to make the password even more difficult to guess.Ĭlick here to download a copy of the password generator spreadsheet. By combining a series of worksheet functions, you can generate a random, eight-character password with one keystroke. The alternative, assigning unique passwords for hundreds of users, was a daunting task.įortunately, Microsoft Excel offers a solution.
He mentioned users who select their favorite sports team, a password that can be easily guessed. For others, including young and inexperienced users, security is often an afterthought.įor example, a network specialist I know recently mentioned problems he has experienced with users who choose their own passwords. See how you can use a downloadable Excel spreadsheet for creating random passwords.įor IT pros, security is an ever-present concern in the enterprise. Lock IT Down: Generate random passwords in Excel
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