NetUserSetInfo function (lmaccess.h)

Article
10/13/2021

The NetUserSetInfo function sets the parameters of a user account.

Syntax

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

Parameters

[in] servername

A 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] username

A pointer to a constant string that specifies the name of the user account for which to set information. For more information, see the following Remarks section.

[in] level

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

Value	Meaning
0	Specifies the user account name. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_0 structure. Use this structure to specify a new group name. For more information, see the following Remarks section.
1	Specifies detailed information about the user account. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1 structure.
2	Specifies level one information and additional attributes about the user account. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_2 structure.
3	Specifies level two information and additional attributes about the user account. This level is valid only on servers. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_3 structure. Note that it is recommended that you use USER_INFO_4 instead.
4	Specifies level two information and additional attributes about the user account. This level is valid only on servers. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_4 structure.
21	Specifies a one-way encrypted LAN Manager 2.x-compatible password. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_21 structure.
22	Specifies detailed information about the user account. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_22 structure.
1003	Specifies a user password. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1003 structure.
1005	Specifies a user privilege level. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1005 structure.
1006	Specifies the path of the home directory for the user. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1006 structure.
1007	Specifies a comment to associate with the user account. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1007 structure.
1008	Specifies user account attributes. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1008 structure.
1009	Specifies the path for the user's logon script file. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1009 structure.
1010	Specifies the user's operator privileges. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1010 structure.
1011	Specifies the full name of the user. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1011 structure.
1012	Specifies a comment to associate with the user. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1012 structure.
1014	Specifies the names of workstations from which the user can log on. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1014 structure.
1017	Specifies when the user account expires. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1017 structure.
1020	Specifies the times during which the user can log on. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1020 structure.
1024	Specifies the user's country/region code. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1024 structure.
1051	Specifies the relative identifier of a global group that represents the enrolled user. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1051 structure.
1052	Specifies the path to a network user's profile. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1052 structure.
1053	Specifies the drive letter assigned to the user's home directory. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_1053 structure.

[in] buf

A pointer to the buffer that specifies 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

A pointer to a value that receives the index of the first member of the user information structure that causes ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER. If this parameter is NULL, the index is not returned on error. For more information, see the following Remarks section.

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.
ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER	One of the function parameters is invalid. For more information, see the following Remarks section.
NERR_InvalidComputer	The computer name is invalid.
NERR_NotPrimary	The operation is allowed only on the primary domain controller of the domain.
NERR_SpeGroupOp	The operation is not allowed on specified special groups, which are user groups, admin groups, local groups, or guest groups.
NERR_LastAdmin	The operation is not allowed on the last administrative account.
NERR_BadPassword	The share name or password is invalid.
NERR_PasswordTooShort	The password is shorter than required. (The password could also be too long, be too recent in its change history, not have enough unique characters, or not meet another password policy requirement.)
NERR_UserNotFound	The user name could not be found.

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 user functions. For more information, see IADsUser and IADsComputer.

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 object is used to perform the access check for this function.

Only users or applications having administrative privileges can call the NetUserSetInfo function to change a user's password. When an administrator calls NetUserSetInfo, the only restriction applied is that the new password length must be consistent with system modals. A user or application that knows a user's current password can call the NetUserChangePassword function to change the password. For more information about calling functions that require administrator privileges, see Running with Special Privileges.

Members of the Administrators local group can set any modifiable user account elements. All users can set the usri2_country_code member of the USER_INFO_2 structure (and the usri1024_country_code member of the USER_INFO_1024 structure) for their own accounts.

A member of the Account Operator's local group cannot set details for an Administrators class account, give an existing account Administrator privilege, or change the operator privilege of any account. If you attempt to change the privilege level or disable the last account with Administrator privilege in the security database, (the security accounts manager (SAM) database or, in the case of domain controllers, the Active Directory), the NetUserSetInfo function fails and returns NERR_LastAdmin.

To set the following user account control flags, the following privileges and control access rights are required.

Account control flag	Privilege or right required
UF_TRUSTED_TO_AUTHENTICATE_FOR_DELEGATION	SeEnableDelegationPrivilege privilege, which is granted to Administrators by default.
UF_TRUSTED_FOR_DELEGATION	SeEnableDelegationPrivilege.
UF_PASSWD_NOTREQD	"Update password not required" control access right on the Domain object, which is granted to authenticated users by default.
UF_DONT_EXPIRE_PASSWD	"Unexpire password" control access right on the Domain object, which is granted to authenticated users by default.
UF_ENCRYPTED_TEXT_PASSWORD_ALLOWED	"Enable per user reversibly encrypted password" control access right on the Domain object, which is granted to authenticated users by default.
UF_SERVER_TRUST_ACCOUNT	"Add/remove replica in domain" control access right on the Domain object, which is granted to Administrators by default.

For a list of privilege constants, see Authorization Constants.

The correct way to specify the new name for an account is to call NetUserSetInfo with USER_INFO_0 and to specify the new value using the usri0_name member. If you call NetUserSetInfo with other information levels and specify a value using a usriX_name member, the value is ignored.

Note that calls to NetUserSetInfo can change the home directory only for user accounts that the network server creates.

If the NetUserSetInfo function returns ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER, you can use the parm_err parameter to indicate the first member of the user information structure that is invalid. (A user information structure begins with USER_INFO_ and its format is specified by the level parameter.) The following table lists the values that can be returned in the parm_err parameter and the corresponding structure member that is in error. (The prefix usri*_ indicates that the member can begin with multiple prefixes, for example, usri10_ or usri1003_.)

Value	Member
USER_NAME_PARMNUM	usri*_name
USER_PASSWORD_PARMNUM	usri*_password
USER_PASSWORD_AGE_PARMNUM	usri*_password_age
USER_PRIV_PARMNUM	usri*_priv
USER_HOME_DIR_PARMNUM	usri*_home_dir
USER_COMMENT_PARMNUM	usri*_comment
USER_FLAGS_PARMNUM	usri*_flags
USER_SCRIPT_PATH_PARMNUM	usri*_script_path
USER_AUTH_FLAGS_PARMNUM	usri*_auth_flags
USER_FULL_NAME_PARMNUM	usri*_full_name
USER_USR_COMMENT_PARMNUM	usri*_usr_comment
USER_PARMS_PARMNUM	usri*_parms
USER_WORKSTATIONS_PARMNUM	usri*_workstations
USER_LAST_LOGON_PARMNUM	usri*_last_logon
USER_LAST_LOGOFF_PARMNUM	usri*_last_logoff
USER_ACCT_EXPIRES_PARMNUM	usri*_acct_expires
USER_MAX_STORAGE_PARMNUM	usri*_max_storage
USER_UNITS_PER_WEEK_PARMNUM	usri*_units_per_week
USER_LOGON_HOURS_PARMNUM	usri*_logon_hours
USER_PAD_PW_COUNT_PARMNUM	usri*_bad_pw_count
USER_NUM_LOGONS_PARMNUM	usri*_num_logons
USER_LOGON_SERVER_PARMNUM	usri*_logon_server
USER_COUNTRY_CODE_PARMNUM	usri*_country_code
USER_CODE_PAGE_PARMNUM	usri*_code_page
USER_PRIMARY_GROUP_PARMNUM	usri*_primary_group_id
USER_PROFILE_PARMNUM	usri*_profile
USER_HOME_DIR_DRIVE_PARMNUM	usri*_home_dir_drive

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.

The NetUserSetInfo function does not control how the password parameters are secured when sent over the network to a remote server to change a user password. Any encryption of these parameters is handled by the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) mechanism supported by the network redirector that provides the network transport. Encryption is also controlled by the security mechanisms supported by the local computer and the security mechanisms supported by remote network server specified in the servername parameter. For more details on security when the Microsoft network redirector is used and the remote network server is running Microsoft Windows, see the protocol documentation for MS-RPCE and MS-SAMR.

Examples

The following code sample demonstrates how to disable a user account with a call to the NetUserSetInfo function. The code sample fills in the usri1008_flags member of the USER_INFO_1008 structure, specifying the value UF_ACCOUNTDISABLE. Then the sample calls NetUserSetInfo, specifying information level 0.

#ifndef UNICODE
#define UNICODE
#endif
#pragma comment(lib, "netapi32.lib")

#include <stdio.h>
#include <windows.h> 
#include <lm.h>

int wmain(int argc, wchar_t *argv[])
{
   DWORD dwLevel = 1008;
   USER_INFO_1008 ui;
   NET_API_STATUS nStatus;

   if (argc != 3)
   {
      fwprintf(stderr, L"Usage: %s \\\\ServerName UserName\n", argv[0]);
      exit(1);
   }
   // Fill in the USER_INFO_1008 structure member.
   // UF_SCRIPT: required.
   //
   ui.usri1008_flags = UF_SCRIPT | UF_ACCOUNTDISABLE;
   //
   // Call the NetUserSetInfo function 
   //  to disable the account, specifying level 1008.
   //
   nStatus = NetUserSetInfo(argv[1],
                            argv[2],
                            dwLevel,
                            (LPBYTE)&ui,
                            NULL);
   //
   // Display the result of the call.
   //
   if (nStatus == NERR_Success)
      fwprintf(stderr, L"User account %s has been disabled\n", argv[2]);
   else
      fprintf(stderr, "A system error has occurred: %d\n", nStatus);

   return 0;
}

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