How to Configure Properties for User Accounts in Windows

Configuring Properties for User Accounts

Windows 10 creates a set of default account properties for each local user account. After you create a local user account, you can configure the account properties by using the Computer Management snap-in. The account properties are grouped under three tabs m the Properties dialog box for a user account: General, Member Or and Profile


The General Tab

The General tab in the Properties dialog box for a user account  allows you to configure or edit all the fields from the New User dialog box except User Name, Password, and Confirm Password. In addition, it provides an Account Is Locked Out check box.

If the account is active and is not locked out of the system, the Account Is Locked Out check box is unavailable. The system locks out a user who exceeds the limit for the number of failed logon attempts. This security feature makes it more difficult for an unauthorized user to break into the system by guessing passwords. If the system locks out an account, the Account Is Locked Out check box becomes available, and an Administrator can clear the check box to allow user access.
The Member Of Tab

The Member Of tab in the Properties dialog box for a user account allows you to add the user account to or remove the user account from a group.
The profile Tab

The Profile tab in the Properties dialog box for a user account allows you to enter a path for the user profile, the logon script, and home folder


User Profile

A user profile is a collection of folders and data that stores your current desktop environment, application settings, and personal data. It also contains all the network connections that are established when you log on to a computer, such as Start menu items and drives mapped to network servers. The user profile maintains consistency by providing the same desktop environment every ime you log on to the computer.

Windows creates a user profile the first time you log on to a computer and stores it on that computer. This user profile is also known as a local user profile.

User profiles on client computers running Windows operate in the following way:

• User profiles are stored locally in a subfolder of the Documents And Settings folder. The subfolder has the same name as the user account and contains importtant user folders, such as My Documents. Favorites, and Desktop. The user profile folder also stores application data and Windows settings pertinent to the user

• When you log on the client computer, you always receive your desktop settings and connections, regardless of how many users share the same client computer

• The First time you log on to the client computer, Windows creates  a default user profile for you The default user profile is stored in the system_partition_ rootDocuments and Settings\user_ logon_ name folder (typmny C: Documents and Settings\user_logon_name), where user_logon_ name' Is the name you enter when logging on to the system.

•  The user profile contains the My Documents folder, which provides a place to store personal files. My Documents is the default location for the File Open and Save As commands. My Documents appears on the Start menu, which makes it easier to locate personal documents.

 Users can store their documents in My Documents or in home folders, such as a home directory that is located on a network server. . Windows  automatically sets up My Documents as the default location for storing data for Microsoft applications. If there is adequate room on drive C or the drive where Windows was installed, users can store their documents in My Documents. However, using My Documents to store personal data greatly increases the amount of space required on a hard disk for installing Windows  well beyond the minimum.

• You can change your user profile by changing desktop settings. For example, if you make a new network connection or add a file to My Documents, Windows incorporates the changes into your user profile when you log off. The next time you log on, the new network connection and the file are present.

Logon Script

A logon script is a file that you can create and assign to a user account to configure the user’s working environment. For example, you can use a logon script to establish network connections or start applications. Each time a user logs on, the assigned logon script is run.

Home Folder

In addition to the My Documents folder, Windows allows you to create home folders for users to store their personal documents. You can store a home folder  on a client computer, in a shared folder on a file server, or in a central location on 3 network server.
Storing all home folders on a me server provides the following advantages:

• Users can access their home folders from any client computer on the network

• You can centralize backing up and administering user documents by moving the responsibility for backing up and managing the documents out of the hands of the users and into the hands of one of the network backup operators or network administrators.

The home folders are accessible from a client computer running any Microsoft operating system
 Store home folders on an NTFS volume so that you can use NTFS permissions to control access to user documents. If you store home folders on a file allocation table (FAT)volume, you can restrict home folder access only by using shared folder permissions.

To create a home folder on a network file server, complete the following steps:

1. Create and share a folder for storing all users’ home folders on a network server.

The home folder for each user will reside in this shared folder.

2. For the shared folder, remove the default Full Control permission from the Every One group and assign Full Control to the Users group.

This ensures that only users with domain user accounts can access the shared folder.

3. In the Properties dialog box for the user account, on the Profile tab, click Connect and select or type a drive letter with which to connect to the user account home folder on the network.

4.In the To text box, type a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) name ( server_name\sbared_folder_name\user_logon_name).

Type the username variable as the user’s logon name to automatically give each user’s home folder the user logon name (for example, \server_nameUsers %username%). Naming a folder on an NTFS volume With the username variable assigns the NTFS Full Control permission to the user and removes all other permissions for the folder, including those for the Administrator account.

To Configure User Account properties, complete the following steps:


Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools. and Click computer Management.

Under System Tools, expand Local Users And Groups, and then click Users

In the details pane, right-click the appropriate user account and then click properties

Click the appropriate tab for the properties that you want to configure or modify; and then enter a value for each property.

 Modifying User Account Properties

Log on with a user account that is a member of the Administrators group.
Click Start, click Run, type me and then click OK.

The MMC starts and displays an empty console.

On the File menu, click Computer Management Local.

Expand Local Users And Groups, and then click Users.

The MC displays the user accounts in the details pane.

Right-click Userl, and then click Properties.

In the Userl Properties dialog box, on the General tab, select User Cannot Change Password, and then clear all other check boxes.

 When you select the User Cannot Change Password check box. the User Must Change Password At Next Logon option is unavailable.

Click OK to close the Userl Properties dialog box. Right-click User2, and then click Properties.

In the User2 Properties dialog box, on the General tab, select the Account Is Disabled check box and clear all other check boxes.

Click OK to close the UserZ Properties dialog box.

Close the Computer Management window, and if you are prompted about sav the console settings, click No.

Log off the computer.

on the Welcome screen, click Userl
In the Type Your Password dialog box Chck the question mark icon for your password hint Wmdows  displays the password  you entered


In the Type Your Password text box, type Password and then enter, In the Control Panel, click User Accounts, . Windows  starts the User Accounts tool ,Click Change My Password. . In the Type Your Current Password text box, type password, In the Type A New Password and Type the new password
again to confirm text boxes, type User1
 Click Change Password.

What happens? Why?

Log off as Userl.

Notice that disabled accounts such as User2 do not appear on the welcome screen.