The SDE user password really shouldn't be present in *any* map documents. As an administrative
management account, the SDE user should not own spatial data, and the password for it should be
closely held (to limit the possibility of instance corruption).
Best practice calls for data ownership accounts to manage spatial data, and browse accounts
for read-only access to data that doesn't need editing (and read-mostly access to data which
may [granted through roles]). You'll still have an impact from browse user password expiration,
but if it really is read-only, there won't be as pressing a reason to enable time-based expiration.
Some sites require users to log in as themselves for browse accounts; you can support this by
not storing the browse user password in map documents (uncheck the "save password" tic-box),
which allows users to override the username and password at initial connect. OS authentication
can also help in this regard.
A forums search (lower box in upper-right corner) on "mxd password change" brought up several
posts that lead to resources for changing broken map documents, but you may need to review
current geodatabase implementation before you can make best use of them.
- V
