Recipe 6.12 Enabling and Disabling a User

6.12.1 Problem

You want to enable or disable a user.

6.12.2 Solution

6.12.2.1 Using a graphical user interface

Open the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.
In the left pane, right-click on the domain and select Find.
Select the appropriate domain beside In.
Type the name of the user beside Name and click Find Now.
In the Search Results, right-click on the user and select Enable Account to enable or Disable Account to disable.
Click OK.

6.12.2.2 Using a command-line interface

To enable a user, use the following command:

> dsmod user <UserDN> -disabled no

To disable a user, use the following command:

> dsmod user <UserDN> -disabled yes

6.12.2.3 Using VBScript

' This code will enable or disable a user.
' ------ SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ------
' Set to FALSE to disable account or TRUE to enable account
strDisableAccount = FALSE  
strUserDN = "<UserDN>" ' e.g. cn=jsmith,cn=Users,dc=rallencorp,dc=com
' ------ END CONFIGURATION ---------

set objUser = GetObject("LDAP://" & strUserDN)
if objUser.AccountDisabled = TRUE then
   WScript.Echo "Account for " & objUser.Get("cn") & " currently disabled"
   if strDisableAccount = FALSE then
      objUser.AccountDisabled = strDisableAccount
      objUser.SetInfo
      WScript.Echo "Account enabled"
   end if
else
   WScript.Echo "Account currently enabled"
   if strDisableAccount = TRUE then
      objUser.AccountDisabled = strDisableAccount
      objUser.SetInfo
      WScript.Echo "Account disabled"
   end if
end if

6.12.3 Discussion

Account status is used to control if a user is allowed to log on or not. When an account is disabled, the user is not allowed to log on to her workstation with the account or access AD controlled resources. Much like the lockout status, the account status is stored as a flag in the userAccountControl attribute (see Recipe 6.24).

There is an IADsUser::AccountDisabled property that allows you to determine and change the status. Set the method FALSE to enable the account or TRUE to disable.