Net group

Applies To: Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista

Adds, displays, or modifies global groups in domains.

Net group is a command-line tool that is built into Windows Vista. To run net group, open a command prompt, type net group with the appropriate parameters, and then press ENTER.

For examples of how this command can be used, see Examples.

Syntax

net group [<GroupName> [/comment:"<Text>"]] [/domain]
net group [<GroupName>{/add [/comment:"<Text>"] | /delete} [/domain]]
net group [<GroupName> <UserName>[ ...] {/add | /delete} [/domain]]

Parameters

Parameter Description

<GroupName>

Specifies the name of the group to add, expand, or delete. Specify a group name to view a list of users in a group only.

/comment:"<Text>"

Adds a comment for a new or existing group. The comment can have as many as 48 characters. Enclose the text in quotation marks.

/domain

Performs the operation on the domain controller in the current domain. Otherwise, the operation is performed on the local computer.

/add

Adds a group, or adds a user name to a group. You must establish accounts for users that you add to a group with this command.

/delete

Removes a group, or removes a user name from a group.

<UserName>[ ...]

Lists one or more user names to add to or remove from a group. Separate multiple user names with a space.

net help <command>

Displays help for the specified net command.

Remarks

  • When you use net group without parameters, this command displays the name of a server and the names of groups on the server.

  • You can also type net groups to get the same output.

  • You can use net group to group users who use the network in the same or similar ways. When you assign rights to a group, each member of the group automatically has those rights. In the command output, net group precedes groups that include both users and groups with an asterisk (*).

    The net group output of groups on the server is similar to the following:

    Group Accounts for \\PRODUCTION
    ----------------------------------------------
    *Domain Admins           *Domain Users
    

Examples

This example lists all the groups on the local server:

net group

This example adds a group called Exec to the local user accounts database:

net group exec /add

This example adds a group called Exec to the domain database:

net group exec /add /domain

This example adds the existing user accounts estherv, ralfr, and stevent to the Exec group on the local computer:

net group exec estherv ralfr stevent /add

This example adds the existing user accounts estherv, ralfr, and stevent to the Exec group in the domain database:

net group exec estherv ralfr stevent /add /domain

This example displays users in the Exec group:

net group exec

This example adds a comment to the Exec group record:

net group exec /comment:"The executive staff"

Additional references

Command-Line Syntax Key