Windows 8 : Managing User Access and Security - Managing Local User Accounts and Groups (part 1) - Creating Local User Accounts

Local user accounts and groups are managed much like domain accounts. You can create accounts, manage their properties, reset accounts when they are locked or disabled, and so on. In addition to being able to manage local user accounts with Control Panel, you can create local user accounts with Local Users And Groups or with policy preferences. You should:

• Use Local Users And Groups to manage local user accounts on one computer.

• Use policy preferences to manage local user accounts on multiple computers throughout a domain.

When working with policy preferences, you can manage users and groups through Computer Configuration entries or User Configuration entries. Use Computer Configuration if you want to configure preferences that should be applied to computers regardless of who logs on. Use User Configuration if you want to configure preferences that should be applied to users regardless of which computer they log on to.

1. Creating Local User Accounts

You can access Local Users And Groups and create a user account by completing the following steps:

1. Open Computer Management. Press and hold or right-click the Computer Management entry in the console tree, and then tap or click Connect To Another Computer on the shortcut menu. You can now select the workstation running Windows 8 whose local accounts you want to manage. (Domain controllers do not have local users or groups.)

2. Under the System Tools node, double-tap or double-click the Local Users And Groups node to expand it, and then select Users. In the details pane, you should see a list of the currently defined user accounts.

3. Press and hold or right-click Users, and then tap or click New User. This opens the New User dialog box, as shown in Figure 1.

   The options in the dialog box are used as follows:

   • User Name The logon name for the user account. This name should follow the conventions for the local user name policy.

   • Full Name The full name of the user, such as William R. Stanek.

   • Description A description of the user. Normally, you would type the user’s job title, such as Webmaster. You could also type the user’s job title and department.

   • Password The password for the account. This password should follow the conventions of your password policy.

     

     Figure 1. Configure new workstation accounts using the New User dialog box in Local Users And Groups.

   • Confirm Password The password for the account. To ensure that you assign the account password correctly, simply retype the password to confirm it.

   • User Must Change Password At Next Logon If this check box is selected, the user must change the password upon logon.

   • User Cannot Change Password If this check box is selected, the user can’t change the password.

   • Password Never Expires If this check box is selected, the password for this account never expires. This setting overrides the local account policy.

   • Account Is Disabled If this check box is selected, the account is disabled and can’t be used. Use this option to temporarily prevent anyone from using an account.

4. Tap or click Create when you have finished configuring the new account.

You can access Group Policy and use a preference item to create a user account by completing the following steps:

1. Open a Group Policy Object for editing in the Group Policy Management Editor. To configure preferences for computers, expand Computer Configuration\Preferences\Control Panel Settings, and then select Local Users And Groups. To configure preferences for users, expand User Configuration\Preferences\Control Panel Settings, and then select Local Users And Groups.

2. Press and hold or right-click the Local Users And Groups node, point to New, and then select Local User. This opens the New Local User Properties dialog box, as shown in Figure 2.

3. In the Action list, select Create. The rest of the options in the dialog box are used as described in the previous procedure.

   

   Figure 2. Configure new local user accounts in Group Policy.

4. Use the options on the Common tab to control how the preference is applied. In most cases, you’ll want to create the new account only once. If so, select Apply Once And Do Not Reapply.

5. Tap or click OK. The next time Group Policy is refreshed, the preference item will be applied as appropriate for the Group Policy Object in which you defined the preference item.