Define Users Logon Time in Domain for Windows Server 2003 Environment
Organizations that work 24 hours a day in different work shifts are
always keen about the new ideas that can help them using the available resources,
products, and accessories to the fullest. One of the resources in such Organizations
is Computer. To take full advantage of a Computer, multiple user accounts are
created on it so that different users can easily work on it by logging into their
respective accounts depending on their working hours. However, having multiple
users account on a computer is beneficial for organizations, it can also be a
problem. Because, if a user knows the login credentials of another user then
s/he can easily logon to his/her account and can take advantage of this facility
in wrong way. For example, s/he can steal/transfer important information thus,
generates a data security issue for the Organization and employees too.
The
above mentioned incident can be resolved if logon hours are set for different
user accounts. Setting logon hours force Windows to authenticate login credentials
depending on the logon hours. Once logon hours are set, a User even after having
the correct login credentials cannot logon to his/her account before or after
the specified logon hours. Therefore, setting logon hours is the perfect solution
for security. But, the problem is how to set logon hours for a user. Setting
logon hours is not an easy task; it is an expert's work and Organizations suffer
if the administrator is not experienced enough to set the logon hours. This article
describes how to set logon hours in Windows Server 2003 environment for both
local and remote computers. Following are the well-known processes to set logon
hours:
. Using Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Snap-ins
.
Using Net User Command
Using Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Snap-ins
Execute the following steps to set logon hours for users listed in
Active Directory:
1. Click Start > Administrative Tools >
Active Directory Users and Computers. The Active Directory Users and Computers
window appears.
2. Now, expand the tree in the left pane and click
the container having user accounts.
3. Select the user in the right-pane
for which you want to set logon hours. Now, right-click the selected user and
select the Properties option. The Properties dialog box opens.
4.
Select the Account tab and click the Logon Hours button. A dialog box to let
you set the logon hours for the selected user appears.
5. Click
the Logon Denied option.
6. Select the time block on which you
want the user to successfully logon to his/her account. As you select the time
block, a status line appears at the bottom to let you know the selected time
blocks.
7. After you have selected the time blocks, click the Logon
Permitted option. Color of the selected time blocks gets changed.
8.
Click the OK button.
9. Click the Apply button in the Properties
dialog box to apply changes.
10. Click the OK button.
11.
Repeat steps 3 to 10 to set logon hours for every user, you want.
12.
Exit the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-ins.
Using Net User Command
Execute the following steps to set users logon hours by using the net
user command:
1. Open the Command Prompt window.
2.
Consider the following syntax:
net user user_name /time:first_day-last_day, start_time-end_time
In the preceding syntax:
. net user is the command that
helps you set logon hours.
. user_name is the name of the user
account for which you want to set the logon hours
. /time is the
switch that helps you specify logon timings
. First_day-last_day
is the parameter that represents the days of the week for which you want to set
logon hours. First_day represents the first day of the week while last_day represents
the last day of the week depending on the organization's working day. For example,
if the organization has 5 days working then first_day represents Monday and last_day
represents Friday. Values for first_day and last_day can be any day of a week
but both values must be separated by hyphen (-).
. Start_time-end_time
represents the logon timings. Start_time is the value from which user can logon
to the computer and end_time is the value after which a user cannot logon to
the system. You can specify value for this parameter in 24 hours format. For
example, to set logon hours from morning 9 AM to 5 PM, type 9:00-17:00
3.
After specifying values in the command prompt according to the preceding syntax,
press the ENTER key.
4. Exit the command prompt window.
These
are the processes to set logon hours for different users account. However, to
set logon hours for a user account you must have admin rights. In addition, if
you want to set logon hours for all users in a domain then you must have admin
rights for that domain. Furthermore, you must either have enough knowledge about
using MMC snap-ins or have exposure on the commands used to set logon hours.
In case, you are not aware about the commands used for setting logon hours or
MMC snap-ins required for this purpose, you as an admin should opt for an automatic
tool, which can help you set logon hours with ease.
Chily Active Directory Management and Reporting is an outstanding tool that helps you set logon hours in just few mouse clicks. As
an admin, you may need to set logon hours for local computer users as well as
domain users, which is very tedious and time-consuming. Chily Active Directory
Management and Reporting software provides you a central location to set logon
hours for both local and domain users. Therefore, you do not need to personally
visit every computer in a domain for setting logon hours. Thus, the software
apart from simplifying your tasks as an admin also saves substantial time.