Technical Tip: Resolving password requirement for new user creation on FortiGate

When attempting to configure an administrator account on FortiOS without specifying a password, an error like the following may occur:

config system admin
    edit "yzz"
        set remote-auth enable
        set accprofile "super_admin"
        set vdom "root"
        set remote-group "clear"

    next
password must be set
object set operator error, -204 discard the setting
Command fail. Return code 1

This occurs because an active system password-policy enforces a local password requirement, even for remote-auth accounts where no local password is intended.

config system password-policy
    set status enable
end

To avoid encountering this error, the password policy can be disabled. However, it is generally not advisable to remove password policy enforcement from the configuration, as it weakens overall security.