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Disable or Enable a Computer Account

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012

Membership in Account Operators , Domain Admins , or Enterprise Admins , or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477.

To disable or enable a computer account using Active Directory Administrative Center

  1. To open Active Directory Administrative Center, click Start , click Administrative Tools , and then click Active Directory Administrative Center .

    To open Active Directory Users and Computers in Windows Server® 2012, click Start , type dsac.exe .

  2. In the navigation pane, select the node that contains the computer account whose status you want to change.

  3. In the management list, right-click the computer whose status you want to change.

  4. Depending on the status of the computer account, do one of the following:

    • To disable the computer account, click Disable .

    • To enable the computer account, click Enable .

Additional considerations

  • When you disable a computer account, the computer cannot authenticate to the domain until it has been enabled.

  • You can also perform the task in this procedure by using the Active Directory module for Windows PowerShell. To open the Active Directory module, click Start , click Administrative Tools , and then click Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell . For more information, see Disable or Enable a Computer Account (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=141801).

    To open the Active Directory module for Windows PowerShell in Windows Server 2012, open Server Manager , click Tools and then click Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell .

    For more information about Windows PowerShell, see Windows PowerShell (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=102372).

Additional references