Why do I receive expired password notifications after creating a sandbox?

Question

I created a new sandbox, and shortly after, my agents, admins, and I received password expiration email notifications. Why do I receive password expiration notification emails after creating new sandboxes?

Answer

When you create a sandbox, the system imports users from your production account with their original password creation dates. The sandbox uses its own security policies, which may differ from your production settings.

The password security level in the new sandbox uses Custom to support required features. If your main account uses Low, the sandbox uses Custom instead. As a result, imported users may receive password expiration notifications because the sandbox detects a change in the password expiration policy.

If you received this notification after you created a sandbox and you did not change any passwords, you can safely ignore it for the sandbox environment. Your current password still works in both the sandbox and the main account unless you change it.

Note: As of August 17 2026, Zendesk is removing the legacy password security levels Low, Medium, High. Accounts that use these legacy settings will need to migrate to either the Recommended password security level or a Custom password policy. If your account or sandbox uses a legacy password security setting you will need to reset your password after this date to align with the updated password security settings.