Viewing User Group Information

In Windows

Using the Computer Management Tool

To view user and group information in Windows, we'll use the Computer Management tool.

1. Open Computer Management: Search for "Computer Management" in the application search and open it.

2. Explore the Interface: The window that appears provides useful information. We'll use this tool frequently throughout this course, so let's take a moment to familiarize ourselves with it.

Local vs. Domain Management

• Local Management: The title "Computer Management (Local)" indicates that we're managing a single machine.

• Domain Management: In a corporate environment, you can manage multiple machines in a Windows Domain—a network of computers and users connected to a central database. As an admin, you can view accounts and computers from any machine in the domain.

Overview of Submenus

Here’s a quick overview of the submenus under "Computer Management":

• 🗓️ Task Scheduler: Schedule tasks, like shutting down the computer at 11:00 PM.

• 📜 Event Viewer: Access system logs.

• 📂 Shared Folders: View folders shared among users.

• 👥 Local Users and Groups: Manage user accounts and groups.

• ⚙️ Performance: Monitor machine resources like CPU and RAM.

• 🔌 Device Manager: Manage connected devices (e.g., network cards, monitors).

• 💾 Disk Management: Manage storage devices and volumes.

• 🛠️ Services and Applications: View available programs and services.

Exploring User and Group Information

Let's navigate to the Local Users and Groups section to check user accounts and group memberships.

User Accounts

• Under the "Users" folder, you'll find built-in Windows accounts, like Guest and Administrator.

• The local Administrator account is disabled by default due to its unrestricted access, which can be risky.

• Click on the account named Cindy to see more details.

User Account Details

• General Tab: Displays basic user info and options like "User must change password at next login" and "Password never expires."

• Member Of Tab: Shows the groups the user belongs to, such as the Administrators group.

• Profile Tab: Allows changes to the user profile settings, like the home folder location.

Group Information

• In the "Groups" folder, you can view available groups and their members.

Now that we've covered the GUI method for viewing user and group information, let’s explore how to do this using the Windows Command Line Interface (CLI).

Checking Local Administrator Accounts with PowerShell

Scenario

Imagine you're an IT Support Specialist tasked with checking user information on 10 machines to ensure that the local administrator account is not enabled.

Manual Method

You could search for "Computer Management," navigate through the menus, and check each machine one by one. But there’s a faster way!

Quick Method with PowerShell

Using the CLI, you can quickly list users on the computer with the command:

Get-LocalUser

This command displays all user accounts, including any default Windows accounts, allowing you to verify the local administrator account status easily.

Checking Groups

To view local groups, use:

Get-LocalGroup

This will list all built-in groups on the machine, which are generally important but require little modification.

The Administrators Group

The Administrators group is crucial as it controls who has administrative access. To see its members, use:

Get-LocalGroupMember -Group "Administrators"

This shows the administrator user and your account as members. If no unauthorized users are listed, you're in good shape.

Important Notes

• Ensure you are using PowerShell version 5.1 or newer for these commands.

• In organizations with many Windows machines, it’s common to use Active Directory for centralized user account management.