Built in parental control in Windows XP - control the time users can login to your computer

One of the talked about feature of Windows Vista was the parental control. In Vista the parental control is in a matured form and is available with lots of functions which were not manageable centrally on any previous versions of Windows.

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One feature is the time login time limit. Parents can actually set the time their children can access the computer for each day and this is shown in a grid view for convenience.

Vista account login time control in grid form a screen shot

But what if you don’t have Vista. You got XP at home :( What do you do ?Well worry not this time limited login is actually available in Windows XP too, but in a more crude form. The option is provided to you through the Command Prompt by net user command. The net services command is one among the most powerful and useful commands available in Windows XP command prompt. It allows an Administrator to do and automate many system administrative task. Let me come to the point :

An example :

net user command time control example
net user Others ajith /times:Su-Sa,3-15;Sa,9-12;
will restrict a user with account name Others and password ajith from logging in at times other than the specified ones.

To clear all restrictions just type :net user [account name] [Password/*] /times:all

Just Play with the command and you can find other uses of net service commands. Now what will happen if the user tries to login during the hours other than specified in the command. Well the user will be given a wrong password error. When I tried to run a program as the restricted user after loging in to Administrator the following error message was shown :

Error when a program is tried to run as restricted account

 

This is a brief summary about the net user commands on Microsoft Knowledge Base :

Net user

Adds or modifies user accounts or displays user account information.

Syntax

net user [UserName [Password | *] [options]] [/domain]

net user [UserName {Password | *} /add [options] [/domain]]

net user [UserName [/delete] [/domain]]

Parameters

UserName : Specifies the name of the user account to add, delete, modify, or view. The name of the user account can have as many as 20 characters.

Password : Assigns or changes a password for the user’s account. Type an asterisk (*) to produce a prompt for the password. The password is not displayed when you type it at the password prompt.

/domain : Performs the operation on the domain controller in the computer’s primary domain.

options : Specifies a command-line option. The following table lists valid command-line options that you can use.

The article is very long so please goto the link given at the bottom and read.contact me

Microsoft KB : Read about net services command | Full options of net user command

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22 Comments »

Comment by Saman SadeghiNo Gravatar
2007-12-18 00:25:48

This is a great How-To and one that I bet a lot of people have wondered about!

 
Comment by AjithNo Gravatar
2007-12-19 23:51:37

Thanks Saman BTW hows your studies going..You are really into studies now right..

 
Comment by ReidsiNo Gravatar
2008-02-06 21:48:51

Sound great however:
1, What happens if you don’t know the password of the user A/C your trying to control. Can you still control the A/C without it?

2, What happens if you initially know the password, however, the user your trying to control changes their password? Can they now get in?

Comment by AjithNo Gravatar
2008-02-07 17:18:02

Hi Reidsi,
Answers :
1, Yes, you can reset the user password using the method mentioned here - http://www.exnol.com/windows/globally-control-and-change-all-users-passwords-in-windows ,

2, If you have changed the users allowed time and after that the user changes their password, it would not affect the control. The time control will still be enabled.

I think that would have cleared your doubts. If you have any more doubts please feel free to contact me or comment me.Thank you for you interest

 
 
Comment by MikeNo Gravatar
2008-08-15 21:57:52

What happens if they are logged on during the allowed hours, but they stay logged on past the ending hour? Will the pc log them off or shut down? what happens?

Comment by AjithNo Gravatar
2008-08-17 11:21:20

Hi Mike,
thanks for your comment…

I am currently testing the condition you specified.. please wait for a day.. I will reply soon

Comment by BritNo Gravatar
2008-10-30 03:37:31

Anything new with this?

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Comment by AjithNo Gravatar
2008-10-31 08:33:49

Thanks Brit… forgot it somehow.. will reply soon

 
Comment by PaulNo Gravatar Subscribed to comments via email
2008-12-22 21:15:48

I’m very interested in this question as well. For me, it’s useless unless it will log them off when the time is up. Or, is there any shareware out there that does the same thing?

 
 
 
 
Comment by AlokNo Gravatar
2008-08-17 10:06:59

I want my kid to use the Internet for not more than 30 to 40 minutes a day.

Can this command, in some modified form, be used to only restrict the time Internet is used instead of restricting the long-on time of the whole computer. I have windows xp home on my pc.

Comment by AjithNo Gravatar
2008-08-17 11:22:08

Hi Alok..

We can implement this in a different way actually. Please tell me which mode of Internet access you use - using dialup or LAN

Comment by AlokNo Gravatar
2008-08-18 15:59:08

Hi Ajith,

Thanks for the prompt response !

I am using BSNL’s broadband connection.

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Comment by AjithNo Gravatar
2008-08-18 16:52:22

Alok it is much easier to allow your an account to use net continuously for 30 or 40 minutes. It is very hard to set an account to have internet access for a total of 40 minutes in different slots. I will post about how to do the former.. this week

 
 
 
 
Comment by AlokNo Gravatar
2008-08-18 20:29:09

Ajith I will be very happy with the easier option! i.e a continuous slot of 30 minutes starting at a particular time on weekdays (and, if possible, a 45 minute slot at a different starting time on saturdays and sundays.)

Comment by AjithNo Gravatar
2008-08-21 23:29:15

OK I think you can do it with task scheduling.. So I will reply by this Sunday.. ;)

 
 
Comment by AutoversicherungNo Gravatar
2008-09-20 23:56:34

Excelent comments. My Favorit Blog. Thank you Autoversicherung

 
Comment by BruceNo Gravatar
2008-10-20 02:55:23

What happens if the user figures out they just change the system time to fit into the allowed time schedule?
I suppose XP home can’t do user level rights to prevent them changing the system time…
Is this better than the free-for-home-use k9webprotection solutions?

Comment by AjithNo Gravatar
2008-10-21 15:59:22

Add the user to a non administrative group..

 
 
Comment by KhewNo Gravatar
2008-12-09 05:43:53

Hi,
There was a question about what happens if they are logged on during the allowed hours, but they stay logged on past the ending hour? Will the pc log them off or shut down? what happens?

Any observations on that?
Thanks!

Comment by AjithNo Gravatar
2008-12-12 08:39:37

Hi Khew.. I am gonna try that and then tell you the result..

Comment by AjithNo Gravatar
2008-12-25 17:14:01

K9webprotection is a hundred times better than the default XP one. But it can only control internet access

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
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