NetGroupAdd function (lmaccess.h)

Article
10/13/2021

The NetGroupAdd function creates a global group in the security database, which is the security accounts manager (SAM) database or, in the case of domain controllers, the Active Directory.

Syntax

NET_API_STATUS NET_API_FUNCTION NetGroupAdd(
  [in]  LPCWSTR servername,
  [in]  DWORD   level,
  [in]  LPBYTE  buf,
  [out] LPDWORD parm_err
);

Parameters

[in] servername

Pointer to a constant string that specifies the DNS or NetBIOS name of the remote server on which the function is to execute. If this parameter is NULL, the local computer is used.

[in] level

Specifies the information level of the data. This parameter can be one of the following values.

Value	Meaning
0	Specifies a global group name. The buf parameter contains a pointer to a GROUP_INFO_0 structure.
1	Specifies a global group name and a comment. The buf parameter contains a pointer to a GROUP_INFO_1 structure.
2	Specifies detailed information about the global group. The buf parameter contains a pointer to a GROUP_INFO_2 structure. Note that on Windows XP and later, it is recommended that you use GROUP_INFO_3 instead.
3	Specifies detailed information about the global group. The buf parameter contains a pointer to a GROUP_INFO_3 structure. Windows 2000: This level is not supported.

[in] buf

Pointer to a buffer that contains the data. The format of this data depends on the value of the level parameter. For more information, see Network Management Function Buffers.

[out] parm_err

Pointer to a value that receives the index of the first member of the global group information structure in error when ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER is returned. If this parameter is NULL, the index is not returned on error. For more information, see the NetGroupSetInfo function.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is NERR_Success.

If the function fails, the return value can be one of the following error codes.

Return code	Description
ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED	The user does not have access to the requested information.
NERR_InvalidComputer	The computer name is invalid.
NERR_GroupExists	The global group already exists.
NERR_NotPrimary	The operation is allowed only on the primary domain controller of the domain.
ERROR_INVALID_LEVEL	The value specified for the level parameter is invalid.
NERR_SpeGroupOp	The operation is not allowed on certain special groups. These groups include user groups, admin groups, local groups, and guest groups.

Remarks

If you are programming for Active Directory, you may be able to call certain Active Directory Service Interface (ADSI) methods to achieve the same functionality you can achieve by calling the network management group functions. For more information, see IADsGroup.

If you call this function on a domain controller that is running Active Directory, access is allowed or denied based on the access control list (ACL) for the securable object. The default ACL permits only Domain Admins and Account Operators to call this function. On a member server or workstation, only Administrators and Power Users can call this function. For more information, see Security Requirements for the Network Management Functions. For more information on ACLs, ACEs, and access tokens, see Access Control Model.

The security descriptor of the user container is used to perform the access check for this function. The caller must be able to create child objects of the group class. Typically, callers must also have write access to the entire object for calls to this function to succeed.

User account names are limited to 20 characters and group names are limited to 256 characters. In addition, account names cannot be terminated by a period and they cannot include commas or any of the following printable characters: ", /, , [, ], :, |, <, >, +, =, ;, ?, *. Names also cannot include characters in the range 1-31, which are nonprintable.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	lmaccess.h (include Lm.h)
Library	Netapi32.lib
DLL	Netapi32.dll