The problem with the password (security)

[x-myrza]

AD = active directory? some microsoft thing?
no experience with that, sorry.

Yes. A server running Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) is called a domain controller. It authenticates and authorizes all users and computers in a Windows domain type network—assigning and enforcing security policies for all computers and installing or updating software.

but when I saw "putty" I thought, that's where I'd put my efforts.
no experience with putty either, unfortunately, but I've seen reports that certain character sequences do not work as expected when translated through putty to a linux server.

Putty is for me the most convenient client for managing ssh.

but a simple exclamation mark?
no, only microsoft is able of something like that.

Of course the issue here is that AD auth is tried first, and if that fails, it uses local auth, which apparently have similar but different passwords.
Debiman thank you very much for your help!

[debiman]

Putty is for me the most convenient client for managing ssh.

for windows maybe.