Platform SDK: Network Management

NetUserAdd

The NetUserAdd function adds a user account and assigns a password and privilege level.

Security Requirements

Windows NT: Only members of the Administrators or Account Operators local group can successfully execute the NetUserAdd function. Only members of the Administrators local group can add an Administrators privilege account.

Windows 2000: If you call this function on a Windows 2000 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 Administrators and account operators to call this function. On a member server or workstation, only Administrators and account operators can call this function. For more information, see Security Requirements for the Network Management Functions.

NET_API_STATUS NetUserAdd(
  LPCWSTR servername, 
  DWORD level,       
  LPBYTE buf,        
  LPDWORD parm_err   
);

Parameters

servername

[in] Pointer to a constant Unicode string specifying the name of the remote server on which the function is to execute. The string must begin with \\. If this parameter is NULL, the local computer is used.

level

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

Value	Meaning
1	Specifies 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 Windows NT/Windows 2000 servers. The buf parameter points to a USER_INFO_3 structure.

buf

[in] Pointer to the buffer that specifies the data. The format of this data depends on the value of the level parameter.

parm_err

[out] Pointer to a DWORD 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 NetUserSetInfo function.

Return Values

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.

Value	Meaning
ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED	The user does not have access to the requested information.
NERR_InvalidComputer	The computer name is invalid.
NERR_NotPrimary	The operation is allowed only on the primary domain controller of the domain.
NERR_GroupExists	The group already exists.
NERR_UserExists	The user account already exists.
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.)

Remarks

Server users must use a system in which the server creates a WINDOWS NT system account for the new user. The creation of this account is controlled by several parameters in the server's LANMAN.INI file.

If the newly added user already exists as a system user, the usri1_home_dir member of the USER_INFO_1 structure is ignored.

When you call the NetUserAdd function and specify information level 1, the call initializes the additional members in the USER_INFO_2 structure and the USER_INFO_3 structure to their default values. You can change the default values by making subsequent calls to the NetUserSetInfo function. The default values supplied are listed following. (The prefix usriX indicates that the member can begin with multiple prefixes, for example, usri2_ or usri3_.)

Member	Default Value
usriX_auth_flags	None (0)
usriX_full_name	usri1_name
usriX_usr_comment	None (null string)
usriX_parms	None (null string)
usriX_workstations	All (null string)
usriX_acct_expires	Never (TIMEQ_FOREVER)
usriX_max_storage	Unlimited (USER_MAXSTORAGE_UNLIMITED)
usriX_logon_hours	Logon allowed at any time (each element 0xFF; all bits set to 1)
usriX_logon_server	Any domain controller (\\*)
usriX_country_code	Current country_code on the server
usriX_code_page	0

The following code sample demonstrates how to add a user account and assign a privilege level using a call to the NetUserAdd function. The code sample fills in the members of the USER_INFO_1 structure and calls NetUserAdd, specifying information level 1.

#ifndef UNICODE
#define UNICODE
#endif

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

int wmain(int argc, wchar_t *argv[])
{
   USER_INFO_1 ui;
   DWORD dwLevel = 1;
   DWORD dwError = 0;
   NET_API_STATUS nStatus;

   if (argc != 3)
   {
      fwprintf(stderr, L"Usage: %s \\\\ServerName UserName\n", argv[0]);
      exit(1);
   }
   //
   // Set up the USER_INFO_1 structure.
   //  USER_PRIV_USER: name identifies a user, 
   //    rather than an administrator or a guest.
   //  UF_SCRIPT: required for LAN Manager 2.0 and
   //    Windows NT/Windows 2000.
   //
   ui.usri1_name = argv[2];
   ui.usri1_password = argv[2];
   ui.usri1_priv = USER_PRIV_USER;
   ui.usri1_home_dir = NULL;
   ui.usri1_comment = NULL;
   ui.usri1_flags = UF_SCRIPT;
   ui.usri1_script_path = NULL;
   //
   // Call the NetUserAdd function, specifying level 1.
   //
   nStatus = NetUserAdd(argv[1],
                        dwLevel,
                        (LPBYTE)&ui,
                        &dwError);
   //
   // If the call succeeds, inform the user.
   //
   if (nStatus == NERR_Success)
      fwprintf(stderr, L"User %s has been successfully added on %s\n",
               argv[2], argv[1]);
   //
   // Otherwise, print the system error.
   //
   else
      fprintf(stderr, "A system error has occurred: %d\n", nStatus);

   return 0;
}

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.

Requirements