Programmatically add Local User to a Local Group

Question

I am doing a C# application targeting WinXP, Vista, and 7 Operating Systems.

One feature is, I can Add, Remove, Modify the Group set to a user programmatically.

Can I ask for help how to make this happen?

Will it be possible to do this in WMI? My codes mainly using WMI to get the users..

Currently am using Windows7

I am trying to test this code

DirectoryEntry localMachine = new DirectoryEntry("WinNT://" + Environment.MachineName + ",Computer");
localMachine.Properties["member"].Add("Chevi");
localMachine.CommitChanges();
localMachine.Close();

and it's spitting this error

The directory property cannot be found in the cache.

I tried enumerating the Property collection and I got this

OperatingSystem

OperatingSystemVersion

Owner

Division

ProcessorCount

Processor

Name

itowlson · Accepted Answer · 2010-03-06 02:58:59Z

2

If you're using local groups, you can do this by calling the system net command. For example, to add a user to a group, you'd call:

net localgroup MyGroup /add SomeUser

Type net help localgroup at a command prompt for more info.

You can also do this using WMI. This is VBScript but can be adapted to .NET or your preferred programming toolkit:

Dim oComputer
Computer = "computername"
Groupname = "Administrators"
ObjectToAdd = "Administrator"

' Bind to the computer.
Set oComputer = GetObject("WinNT://" & Computer & ",computer")

' get group object
Dim oGroup
Set oGroup = oComputer.GetObject("group", GroupName)

' Add the user object to the group.
oGroup.Add "WinNT://" & Computer & "/" & ObjectToAdd

Credit: Matt Hickman, http://www.tech-archive.net/Archive/WinXP/microsoft.public.windowsxp.wmi/2004-04/0007.html

edited Mar 6, 2010 at 2:58

answered Mar 6, 2010 at 2:53

itowlson

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2 Comments

jaysonragasa Over a year ago

Will adding a User to a group possible in WMI? Is there like Update query? :D

Austin T French Over a year ago

I would go with the net commands. WMI breaks often, and is slow. Not sure of the speed of NET commands, but at worst it would be more reliable.

Unni Kris · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-29 11:29:02Z

I have also developed one windows application on Visual Studio 2010, using C#. This is a working version of the program, which will add an existing user to a particular group.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.DirectoryServices;

namespace Utility_Add_User_To_Group {

    public partial class Form1 : Form {

        public Form1() {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void btn_Add_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
            string usr, grp;
            usr = txt_UserName.Text;
            grp = txt_GroupName.Text;

            add(usr, grp);
            groupBox2.Visible=true;
        }

        private void add(string usr, string grp) {
            bool flagUsr, flagGrp;
            try {
                DirectoryEntry AD = new DirectoryEntry("WinNT://" +Environment.MachineName + ",computer");
                DirectoryEntry group, user;

                group = AD.Children.Find(grp, "group");
                user = AD.Children.Find(usr, "user");
                if (user != null) {
                    label3.Text += "User Name Exists!!!";
                    flagUsr = true;
                } else {
                    label3.Text += "Sorry, No Such User Name Found!!!";
                    flagUsr = false;
                }

                if (group != null) {
                    label4.Text += "Group Exists!!!";
                    flagGrp = true; 
                } else {
                    label4.Text += "Sorry, Group Does Not Exists!!!";
                    flagGrp= false;
                }

                if(flagGrp == true && flagUsr == true) {
                    group.Invoke("Add", new object[] { user.Path.ToString() });
                    label5.Text += "Congratulations!!! User has been added to the group";
                } else {
                    label5.Text += "Error Happened!!! User could not be added to the group!!!";
                }
            } catch (Exception e) {
                label6.Text +=e.Message.ToString();
                label6.Visible= true;
            }
            }

        private void btn_Clear_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
            normal();
        }
        private void normal() {
            txt_GroupName.Text="";
            txt_UserName.Text="";
            txt_UserName.Focus();

            groupBox2.Visible=false;
        }
        }
    }

Remus Rusanu · Accepted Answer · 2010-03-06 02:54:21Z

1

NetUserAdd to create a user
NetGroupAdd to create a group
NetGroupAddUser to add a user to a group
NetGroupDelUser to remove an user form a group
NetLocalGroupAdd to create a local group
NetLocalGroupAddMembers to add users to a local group

etc etc

answered Mar 6, 2010 at 2:54

Remus Rusanu

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