Windows Server 2008 For Dummies
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The Net User command creates or changes user accounts in the Windows Server 2008 environment. This command has many options and therefore uses. To display a user’s information, use this form:

net user <i>username</i>

To update user information, use this form:

net user [<i>username</i> [<i>password</i> | *] [<i>options</i>]] [/domain]

To add a new user, use this form:

net user <i>username</i> [<i>password</i> | *] /add [<i>options</i>] [/domain]

To delete a user, use this form:

net user <i>username</i> /delete [/domain]

Most of the parameters for this command are straightforward. However, the options parameters can have a variety of different settings.

Net User Options Parameters
Options Description
/ACTIVE:{YES | NO} Activates or deactivates the account. If the account is not active, the user can’t access the server. The default is YES.
/COMMENT:"text" Provides a descriptive comment about the user’s account (maximum of 48 characters). Enclose the text in quotation marks.
/COUNTRYCODE:nnn Uses the operating system country code to implement the specified language files for a user’s help and error messages. A value of 0 signifies the default country code.
/EXPIRES:{date | NEVER} Causes the account to expire if date is set. NEVER sets no time limit on the account. An expiration date is in the form mm/dd/yy or dd/mm/yy, depending on the country code. Months can be a number, spelled out, or abbreviated with three letters. The year can be two or four numbers. Use slashes (/), not spaces, to separate parts of the date.
/FULLNAME:" name" Is a user’s full name (rather than a username). Enclose the name in quotation marks.
/HOMEDIR:pathname Sets the path for the user’s home directory. The path must exist.
/PASSWORDCHG:{YES | NO} Specifies whether users can change their own passwords. The default is YES.
/PASSWORDREQ:{YES | NO} Specifies whether a user account must have a password. The default is YES.
/PROFILEPATH[:path] Sets a path for the user’s logon profile.
/SCRIPTPATH:pathname Is the location of the user’s logon script.
/TIMES:{times | ALL} Is the logon hours. TIMES is expressed as day[-day][,day[-day]],time[-time] [,time[-time]], limited to 1-hour increments. Days can be spelled out or abbreviated. Hours can be 12- or 24-hour notation. For 12-hour notation, use am or pm (without periods) or a.m. or p.m. ALL means a user can always log on, and a blank value means a user can never log on. Separate day and time entries with a comma, and separate multiple day and time entries with a semicolon.
/USERCOMMENT:"text" Lets an administrator add or change the User Comment for the account.
/WORKSTATIONS: Lists as many as eight computers from which a user {ComputerName[,...] | *} can log on to the network. If /WORKSTATIONS has no list or if the list is *, the user can log on from any computer.

To display information for a particular user, use the command like this:

C:>net user Doug

To add a user account for Theodore Cleaver with the username Beaver, use this command:

C:>net user Beaver /add /fullname:"Theodore Cleaver"

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