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New-LocalUser

  • Reference
Module:
Microsoft.PowerShell.LocalAccounts

Creates a local user account.

Syntax

New-LocalUser
   [-AccountExpires <DateTime>]
   [-AccountNeverExpires]
   [-Description <String>]
   [-Disabled]
   [-FullName <String>]
   [-Name] <String>
   -Password <SecureString>
   [-PasswordNeverExpires]
   [-UserMayNotChangePassword]
   [-WhatIf]
   [-Confirm]
   [<CommonParameters>]
New-LocalUser
   [-AccountExpires <DateTime>]
   [-AccountNeverExpires]
   [-Description <String>]
   [-Disabled]
   [-FullName <String>]
   [-Name] <String>
   [-NoPassword]
   [-UserMayNotChangePassword]
   [-WhatIf]
   [-Confirm]
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The New-LocalUser cmdlet creates a local user account. This cmdlet creates a local user account or a local user account that is connected to a Microsoft account.

Note

The Microsoft.PowerShell.LocalAccounts module is not available in 32-bit PowerShell on a 64-bit system.

Examples

Example 1: Create a user account

PS C:\> New-LocalUser -Name "User02" -Description "Description of this account." -NoPassword
Name    Enabled  Description
----    -------  -----------
User02  True     Description of this account.

This command creates a local user account and does not specify the AccountExpires or Password parameters. Therefore, the account doesn't expire or have a password by default.

Example 2: Create a user account that has a password

PS C:\> $Password = Read-Host -AsSecureString
PS C:\> New-LocalUser "User03" -Password $Password -FullName "Third User" -Description "Description of this account."
Name    Enabled  Description
----    -------  -----------
User03  True     Description of this account.

The first command prompts you for a password by using the Read-Host cmdlet. The command stores the password as a secure string in the $Password variable.

The second command creates a local user account by using the password stored in $Password. The command specifies a user name, full name, and description for the user account.

Parameters

-AccountExpires

Specifies when the user account expires. To obtain a DateTime object, use the Get-Date cmdlet. If you do not specify this parameter, the account does not expire.

Type:DateTime
Position:Named
Default value:None
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-AccountNeverExpires

Indicates that the account does not expire.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Confirm

Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.

Type:SwitchParameter
Aliases:cf
Position:Named
Default value:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Description

Specifies a comment for the user account. The maximum length is 48 characters.

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Disabled

Indicates that this cmdlet creates the user account as disabled.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-FullName

Specifies the full name for the user account. The full name differs from the user name of the user account.

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Name

Specifies the user name for the user account.

If you create a local user account for the local system, the user name can contain up to 20 uppercase characters or lowercase characters. A user name cannot contain the following characters:

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

A user name cannot consist only of periods . or spaces.

Type:String
Position:0
Default value:None
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-NoPassword

Indicates that the user account does not have a password.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Password

Specifies a password for the user account. You can use Read-Host -AsSecureString, Get-Credential, or ConvertTo-SecureString to create a SecureString object for the password.

If you omit the Password and NoPassword parameters, New-LocalUser prompts you for the new user's password.

Type:SecureString
Position:Named
Default value:None
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-PasswordNeverExpires

Indicates whether the password expires.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-UserMayNotChangePassword

Indicates that the user cannot change the password on the user account.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-WhatIf

Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.

Type:SwitchParameter
Aliases:wi
Position:Named
Default value:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

Inputs

String

You can pipe a string to this cmdlet.

DateTime

You can pipe a DateTime object to this cmdlet.

Boolean

You can pipe a boolean value to this cmdlet.

SecureString

You can pipe a secure string to this cmdlet.

Outputs

System.Management.Automation.SecurityAccountsManager.LocalUser

This cmdlet returns a LocalUser object representing the created user account.

Notes

  • A user name cannot be identical to any other user name or group name on the computer. A user name cannot consist only of periods . or spaces. A user name can contain up to 20 uppercase characters or lowercase characters. A user name cannot contain the following characters:

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

  • A password can contain up to 127 characters.

  • The PrincipalSource property is a property on LocalUser, LocalGroup, and LocalPrincipal objects that describes the source of the object. The possible sources are as follows:

    • Local
    • Active Directory
    • Azure Active Directory group
    • Microsoft Account

Note

PrincipalSource is supported only by Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, and later versions of the Windows operating system. For earlier versions, the property is blank.