Which command would set a user's password to expire in 90 days and warn 7 days before expiration?

• A. chage -M 90 -W 7 username
• B. passwd -w 7 -t 90 username
• C. chage -e 90 -W 7 username
• D. chage -m 90 -W 7 username

Answer: (A)

Managing when a password must be changed is done with the chage command. The two key options are -M, which sets the maximum number of days the password is valid, and -W, which specifies how many days before that expiry to warn the user. Setting -M to 90 means the password will expire after 90 days, and setting -W to 7 makes the system start warning the user 7 days before the expiry. Using both for the target user with chage -M 90 -W 7 username gives the desired behavior: a 90-day password life with a 7-day warning window. Other choices don’t fit: a passwd option set is not appropriate for this aging configuration; -e would define an absolute account expiration date, not a password expiry; -m would set a minimum interval between changes, not the expiration itself.