Create a local user account

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

Administrators is the minimum group membership required to complete this procedure. Review the details in "Additional considerations" in this topic.

To create a local user account

  1. Open Computer Management.

  2. In the console tree, click Users.

    Where?

    • Computer Management\System Tools\Local Users and Groups\Users
  3. On the Action menu, click New User.

  4. Type the appropriate information in the dialog box.

  5. Select or clear the check boxes for:

    • User must change password at next logon

    • User cannot change password

    • Password never expires

    • Account is disabled

  6. Click Create, and then click Close.

Additional considerations

  • To perform this procedure, you must provide credentials for the Administrator account on the local computer (if you are prompted), or you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer.

  • A user name cannot be identical to any other user name or group name on the computer that is being administered. The user name can contain up to 20 uppercase characters or lowercase characters, except for the following:

    " / \ [ ] : ; | = , + * ? < > @

    A user name cannot consist solely of periods (.) or spaces.

  • In Password and Confirm password, you can type a password containing up to 127 characters. However, if the network consists of computers running Windows 95 or Windows 98, consider using passwords that are no longer than 14 characters. If your password is longer than 14 characters, you may not be able to log on to the network from computers running Windows 95 or Windows 98.

  • The use of strong passwords and appropriate password policies can help protect your computer from attack.

Additional references

Local user accounts

Why you should not run your computer as an administrator

Assign a logon script to a local user account

Assign a home folder to a local user account