Disable or activate a local user account

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.

To disable or activate a local user account

  1. Open Computer Management.

  2. In the console tree, click Users .

    Where?

    • Computer Management\System Tools\Local Users and Groups\Users
  3. Right-click the user account that you want to change, and then click Properties .

  4. Do one of the following:

    • To disable the selected user account, select the Account is disabled check box.

    • To activate the selected user account, clear the Account is disabled check box.

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.

  • When a user account is disabled, the user is not permitted to log on. The account appears in the details pane with an X on the icon.

  • Before you activate a disabled account, make sure that the account was not locked out for security reasons.

  • When a user account is activated, the user is permitted to log on normally.

Additional references

Local Users and Groups best practices

Local user accounts