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Create a local group

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012

Administrators is the minimum group membership required to complete this procedure. Review the details in "Additional considerations" in this topic.

Creating a local group

  • Using the Windows interface

  • Using a command line

To create a local group using the Windows interface

  1. Open Computer Management.

  2. In the console tree, click Groups .

    Where?

    • Computer Management\System Tools\Local Users and Groups\Groups
  3. On the Action menu, click New Group .

  4. In Group name , type a name for the new group.

  5. In Description , type a description of the new group.

  6. To add one or more members to the new group, click Add .

  7. In the Select Users, Computers, or Groups dialog box, do the following:

    • To add a user or group account to this group, under Enter the object names to select , type the name of the user account or group account that you want to add, and then click OK .

    • To add a computer account to this group, click Object Types , select the Computers check box, and then click OK . Under Enter the object names to select , type the name of the computer account that you want to add, and then click OK .

  8. In the New Group dialog box, click Create , and then click Close .

Additional considerations

  • To perform this procedure, you must provide credentials for the Administrator account on the local computer (if you are prompted), or you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer.

  • A local group name cannot be identical to any other group name or user name on the local computer that is being administered. The local group name can contain up to 256 uppercase characters or lowercase characters, except for the following:

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

    A group name cannot consist solely of periods (.) or spaces.

To create a local group by using a command line

  1. Open Command Prompt.

  2. To create a group, type:

    net localgroup <GroupName> /add
    

Additional considerations

  • To perform this procedure, you must provide credentials for the Administrator account on the local computer (if you are prompted), or you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer.

  • A local group name cannot be identical to any other group or user name on the local computer that is being administered. The local group name can contain up to 256 uppercase or lowercase characters, except for the following:

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

    A group name cannot consist solely of periods (.) or spaces.

  • For more information about the net localgroup command, see Managing local groups from the command line.

Additional references

Default local groups

Add a member to a local group

Command-line syntax notation