You can use the net user command to create and modify user accounts on computers. When you use this command without command-line switches, the user accounts for the computer are listed. The user account information is stored in the user accounts database. This command works only on servers.
To run the net user command tool, using the WinX menu, open the command prompt, type net user and hit Enter. This will show you the user accounts on the computer. Thus, when you use net user without parameters, it displays a list of the user accounts on the computer.
List Details on a user account.
net user user_name
This will provide the following information on the user.
The sytax for its usage is:
net user [<UserName> {<Password> | *} [<Options>]] [/domain]
net user [<UserName> {<Password> | *} /add [<Options>] [/domain]]
net user [<UserName> [/delete] [/domain]]
Using net user with the appropriate parameters allows you to carry out several functions. You can use the following parameters with the net user command:
- usernameis the name of the user account you want to add, delete, modify, or view.
- passwordwill assign or change a password for the user’s account.
- *will produce a prompt for the password.
- /domainperforms the operation on the primary domain controller of the current domain on computers running Windows NT which are members of a Windows NT Server domain.
- /addwill add a user account to the user accounts database.
- /deletewill delete a user account from the user accounts database.
Net user Change Password
As an example let us say you want to change the password of a user. To change a user’s password, log on as an administrator, open an elevated command prompt type the following and press Enter:
net user user_name * /domain
You will be asked to type a password for the user. Type the new password and later again retype the password to confirm. The password will now be changed.
You could also use the following command. But this case, you will not be prompted. The password will be directly changed right away:
net user user_name new_password
Net User Activate an Inactive Account
This can be used if you need to enable the default administrator account.
net user administrator /active:yes
Disable Built-in Administrator Account
Make sure you are logged on as your regular user account, and then open an administrator mode command prompt as above. Type the following command:
net user administrator /active:no