Add a member to a local group

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012

Administrators is the minimum group membership required to complete this procedure. Review the details in "Additional considerations" in this topic.

Adding a member to a local group

  • Using the Windows interface

  • Using a command line

To add a member to a local group using the Windows interface

  1. Open Computer Management.

  2. In the console tree, click Groups .

    Where?

    • Computer Management\System Tools\Local Users and Groups\Groups
  3. Right-click the group to which you want to add a member, click Add to Group , and then click Add .

  4. In the Select Users, Computers, or Groups dialog box, do the following:

    • To add a user account or group account to this group, under Enter the object names to select , type the name of the user account or group account that you want to add to the group, and then click OK .

    • To add a computer account to this group, click Object Types , select the Computers check box, and then click OK . Under Enter the object names to select, type the name of the computer account that you want to add to the group, and then click OK .

Additional considerations

  • To perform this procedure, you must provide credentials for the Administrator account on the local computer (if you are prompted), or you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer.

  • To remove a member from a local group, select the user account, computer account, or group account in Members , and then click Remove .

  • All the rights and permissions that are assigned to a group are assigned to all members of that group.

  • Limit the number of users in the Administrators group. Members of the Administrators group on a local computer have Full Control permissions on that computer.

  • If the computer is joined to a domain, you can add user accounts, computer accounts, and group accounts from that domain and from trusted domains to a local group.

To add a member to a local group using a command line

  1. Open Command Prompt.

  2. To add a member to the Backup Operators group, type:

    net localgroup "Backup Operators" "<MemberName>" /add
    

    You must include the quotation marks.

Additional considerations

  • To perform this procedure, you must provide credentials for the Administrator account on the local computer (if you are prompted), or you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer.

  • All the rights and permissions that are assigned to a group are assigned to all members of that group.

  • Limit the number of users in the Administrators group. Members of the Administrators group on a local computer have Full Control permissions on that computer.

  • If the computer is joined to a domain, you can add user accounts, computer accounts, and group accounts from that domain and from trusted domains to a local group.

Additional references

Default local groups

Why you should not run your computer as an administrator

Managing local groups from the command line

Command-line syntax notation