Users & AD

List & Manage Local Users and Groups with PowerShell

3 min read

Local account management (not domain) via the built-in *-LocalUser / *-LocalGroup cmdlets. Changes need an elevated prompt.

List local users

Get-LocalUser
Get-LocalUser | Select-Object Name, Enabled, LastLogon, PasswordExpires

Members of the Administrators group

Get-LocalGroupMember -Group Administrators

Enabled accounts only

Get-LocalUser | Where-Object Enabled -eq $true

Create a local user (admin)

$pw = Read-Host -AsSecureString "New password"
New-LocalUser -Name "svc_backup" -Password $pw -FullName "Backup Service" -Description "Service account"

Add a user to a group (admin)

Add-LocalGroupMember -Group Administrators -Member "svc_backup"

Disable or remove a user (admin)

Disable-LocalUser -Name "olduser"
Remove-LocalUser  -Name "olduser"

Notes: these are the Microsoft.PowerShell.LocalAccounts cmdlets, included on Windows 10/11 and Server 2016+ (Windows PowerShell 5.1). They manage local accounts only — for domain accounts use the ActiveDirectory module (Get-ADUser, etc.). Never hard-code a plaintext password; Read-Host -AsSecureString or a stored credential keeps it out of your history.

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