How To: Create Local User Accounts & Groups in Windows

The Computer Management is a very useful tool, which is available  in Windows 7 and Windows 8. It allows you to perform many tasks, such as monitoring system events, configuring hard disks, and managing system performance. However, in this guide we will show you how you can create local user accounts and user groups and how you can configure their policies.

NOTE: Be aware that the Computer Management is not available in Windows 7 Home Premium, the basic edition of Windows 8 and Windows RT.

Start the Computer Management in Windows

In Windows 7 and Windows 8 you can easily find the Computer Management in the Control Panel.

• Open the Control Panel and go to the System and Security section.
• Then select Administrative tools and click on the shortcut of the Computer Management from the list of tools that displays in the window.

• Alternatively, in Windows 7  you can access the tool by searching for it on the Start menu.Type the word management and click on the appropriate search result.
• In Windows 8 you can also start the Computer Management by going with your mouse to the bottom left corner of the screen. In case you are own a touch-screen device, use your finger to go to the bottom of the screen. Next click or tap on it. Once you do this, the Start tile will appear. Right click (or press and hold) on it and a hidden administrative menu will display. In this menu you can open the Computer Management by pressing on its entry.

You can also open this administrative menu by using the Win + X combination.

The Computer Management window should similar to the following screenshot.

Create a Local User Account

•  If you want to create a user account, you should first go to the Users folder, which is in the Local Users and Groups subcategory on the left-side column of the window.

• Then right-click on the empty space, found right beneath the list of user accounts, and click or tap New User.

• Once you do it, the New User window will show up, where you will need to enter every detail, which have to do with your new user account. Firstly, enter the User name, the Full name and the Description. The last two details are optional.

• After this, type the password in the corresponing field and then confirm it. In case you do not want to use a password, the only thing you will have to do is checking the User must change the password at next logon box. This means that the person, who uses the user account, have to create his/her own password, when using the account for the first time.
• In addition, you will be able to determine the administrator as the only one, who can change the password of the newly created user account. To do this, check the box, which says User cannot change password.
• You can also prevent your password from expiring. Check the Password never expires box, in order to do it. This setting can be useful regarding business network environments, the policies of which require the passwords of the user accounts to expire after a specific time period.
• Check the Account is disabled box to create a user account, which will be disable and cannot be used.
• Once you have configured all these settings, click Create and the newly created user account will be ready for use. If you do not want to create another user account, you can simply click Close.

NOTE: If you follow these steps to create a new user account, be aware that this account will not have administrative permissions. It will be listed as member of the Users group. This means that the user account , that you created, will be able to use only the existing applications and resources.

View and Change the Properties of User Accounts

The Computer Management also lets you to adjust the properties of an existing user account.

• Right-click on the desired user account and select Properties from the displaying menu.

• The Properties window will appear immediately. In the General tab you will notice the options, which we described earlier.

• In the Member of tab you will see the list of user groups, in which the user account is part of.

• If you want to add the user account in a group, click Add. Then select the desired user group.
• In case you want to remove the user account from a group, click on the user group and press the Remove button.

As you can see from the screenshot above, the Profile tab can be used only in business network environments, in order to configure specific paths. Furthermore, you can set the storage location of your user profile data, configure the scripts, which Windows will execute, when you logon and adjust the value of the home folder.

• When you finish editing the settings in this tab, click OK to confirm them.

Create a User Group

Now let’s see how you can create a user group.

• First of all, go to the Groups folder, which is inside of Local Users and Groups. 
• Right-click on the empty space, under the list of the user groups. Next, select the New Group option, available on the menu that showed up.

• The New Group window will display. There enter the name and the description of the group. Once again, the description is optional.

• Then you will need to add the members of the new group.Click Add to open the Select Users window.

•  In that window click Advanced.

 

Here you will be able to use a few more options to locate user accounts.

• Press the Find Now button and search for the user account, which you want to add to the user group, from the list of accounts on the bottom of the window. Once you find it, select it and press OK.
• The select user account will display in the Select Users window. Click OK again. 
• When you finish this process, you will be redirected to the New Group window. There you will see the user account that you just added to the group.
• Press Create and then Close to finish the operation. Now the user group is created and available for use. You can give the newly created user group permissions. Those permissions will be inherited to all members of the user group.

As you noticed, creating user accounts and groups in Windows is a quick and easy task. Go ahead and use the Computer Management tool, in order to do it!