Creating, editing, and deleting user accounts
It is important that you always use the Windows SBS 2011Standard Console and wizards when you create, edit, or delete any users. Themain reason is that the wizards do a number of things behind the scenes toensure everything works correctly on the Windows SBS 2011 Standard system.Creating users manually via native Active Directory tools may result infeatures not being enabled. The wizards are there to do all the hard work andcreate the accounts for you in Active Directory; so don't fear they are doing somethingdifferent, they aren't. They are there to make an administrators' life easier,so use them every time. This cannot be stressed strongly enough.
To create a new user:
1.Run the Windows SBS 2011 Standard Console.
2.Select the Users and Groups icon.
3.Select the Users tab:
4.You should now see a list of any existing users and youshould also see the option Add a new user account link under the Tasks sectionto the right. Click this option to create a new user.
5.The Add a New User Account wizard now runs. Enter thedetails for the user. Also select the role for that user from the drop-downlist. When complete, click the Next button to continue.
6.At the next screen you will be prompted to enter the user'spassword. It is important to note that you cannot progress past this screenuntil you have entered a password that conforms to both length and complexityrequirements. These requirements can be modified in the system if required.Once you have entered a suitable password, the Add user account button will beavailable. Click this to continue.
7.The wizard will now run and create a network account forthe user, create a home folder for that user, an e-mail account, setappropriate quotas, and send a Welcome e-mail to the user's inbox. Whencomplete, click the Finish button:
You should now see the user you created appear in the listof Users.
To edit an existing user account, simply:
1.Run the Windows SBS 2011 Standard Console.
2.Select the Users and Groups icon.
3.Select the Users tab.
4.Select the user you wish to edit from the list of usersthat is displayed.
5.From the Tasks list on the right, select Edit user accountproperties.
6.You shouldnow see all the properties of the user displayedin a window, as shown in the next screenshot. Simply select the desired sectionfrom the left and make any changes to the properties on the right. Click the OKbutton to save the changes and return to the Windows SBS 2011 Standard console:
To delete an existing user account:
1.Run the Windows SBS 2011 Standard Console.
2.Select the Users and Groups icon.
3.Select the Users tab.
4.Select the user you wish to delete from the list of usersthat is displayed.
5.On the right-hand side, under the Tasks pane select Removeuser account.
6.You'll be prompted to confirm that you wish to delete theselected account. By default doing so will also remove that user's mailbox andshared folder. If you don't desire this, simply uncheck these options before clickingthe Yes button to proceed:
7.The selected account will then be removed from the systemand you should receive a confirmation that the process completed successfully.When this is displayed simply click the OK button. This will take you to the WindowsSBS 2011 Standard Console and you should notice that the selected user nolonger appears in the list.
Assigning permissions to users
To assign permissions to an existing user account you willneed to edit that account. To do this:
1.Run the Windows SBS 2011 Standard Console.
2.Select the Users and Groups icon.
3.Select the Users tab.
4.Select the user you wish to edit from the list of usersthat is displayed.
5.From the Tasks list on the right, select Edit user accountproperties.
6.You should now see all the properties of the userdisplayed in a window, as shown in the following screenshot. Simply select thedesired section from the left and make any changes to the properties on the right:
7.For example, if you wish to change the user's rights tothe files on the server, this would normally be done via the Groups option. Ifyou select the Groups option, you will be shown a list of groups that the userbelongs to. You can select an existing group and remove it or you can add agroup. Adding a user to a group will automatically provide them access towhatever the group has access to.
8.Click the OK button to save the changes and return to theWindows SBS 2011 Standard console.
You can also change the user's permissions by changing theirrole on the network. In this way, you can promote or demote a user to the samelevel as any pre-configured user role. To make this change:
1.Run the Windows SBS 2011 Standard Console.
2.Select the Users and Groups icon.
3.Select the Users tab.
4.Select the user you wish to edit from the list of usersthat is displayed.
5.From the Tasks list on the right, select Change user rolefor user accounts.
6.The wizard will then prompt you to select which role youwish that user to assume, as previously shown. You can also elect to Replaceuser permissions or settings or Add user permissions or settings:
7.You will then be asked to select one or more users from alist of users whose role you wish to change. Once the selection process iscomplete click the Change user role button.
8.The wizard will now run and when complete you will beprovided with a status window as to the success of the process. Click theFinish button to complete the process.
The user will now have either the same permissions as therole you selected, or the merged permission of the user role and the existingrights, depending on what option you selected during the process.
Assigning users to computers
Users created in the Windows SBS 2011 Standard console areautomatically given rights to client machines that are configured using theWindows SBS 2011 Standard wizards. It is however possible to control what levelof access these users have on those machines and whether they also have remoteaccess rights enabled.
There are two ways to configure these rights, both throughthe Windows SBS 2011 Standard Console. The first is via Computer and the secondvia Users and Groups.
To control the access of users to client computers via theComputer option:
1.Run the Windows SBS 2011 Standard Console.
2.Select the Network icon.
3.Select the Computers tab.
4.Select the Computer you wish to edit from the list underthe Client Computers heading in the lower half of the screen.
5.From the Tasks list on the right, select View computerproperties.
6.Select the User Access option from the menu on the left.
7.You should then see a list of network users. You can addor delete any existing users and you can select a user and change their Accesslevel for this computer from the option at the bottom of the screen. You canselect from Standard User or Local Administrator.
8.You will also notice here that you have the option toallow the user to Remotely access this computer. Simply select the option toenable this if desired.
9.Click the OK button to save any changes made.
To control the access of users to client computers via theUsers and Groups option:
1.Run the Windows SBS 2011 Standard Console.
2.Select the Users and Groups icon.
3.Select the Users tab.
4.Select the user you wish to edit from the list of usersthat is displayed.
5.From the Tasks list on the right, select Edit user accountproperties.
6.Select the Computer option from the menu on the left-handside.
7.Again you can't add or delete any network computers butyou can select one and change the Access level that user has from the option atthe bottom of the screen. You may select from Standard User or LocalAdministrator.
8.You will also notice here that you have the option toallow the user to Remotely access this computer. Simply select this option toenable this if desired.
9.Click the OK button to save any changes made
Configuring user RWA access using Windows SBS console
The ability to remotely access the Windows SBS 2011 Standardserver and networked workstations is provided via Remote Web Access (RWA) andis easily controlled via the SBS Console. There are two ways of doing this fromthe console, either individually for each user or for a group of users.
To make changes to the access rights of an individual user:
1.Run the Windows SBS 2011 Standard Console.
2.Select the Users and Groups icon.
3.Select the Users tab.
4.Select the user you wish to delete from the list of usersthat is displayed.
5.From the Tasks list on the right, select Edit user accountproperties.
6.You should now see all the properties of the userdisplayed in a window. Select the Remote Access option from the left, as shownin the following screenshot, and then check the option User can access RemoteWeb Access on the right. Click the OK button to save the changes and return tothe Windows SBS 2011 Standard console:
To make changes to the access rights of a group of users:
1.Run the Windows SBS 2011 Standard Console.
2.Select the Shared Folders and Websites icon.
3.Select the Web Sites tab.
4.Select the Remote Web Access item from the list.
5.Select Manage Permissions from the Task list on the right.
6.You should now see all the properties of the Remote WebAccess displayed in a window. Select the Permissions option from the left, asshown in the following screenshot, and then select the Modify button to makeany changes. This will display a standard list of users and groups that you caneither add or remove from the group access list. Click the OK button to savethe changes and return to the Remote Web Access Properties page. Click OK againto close and save changes:
Properties and native tools
As Windows SBS 2011 Standard is built using Windows Server2008 R2, it still has available all the native tools any Windows Server has towork with. You can still access these tools directly from the Start Menu ifrequired. However, as mentioned previously, Windows SBS 2011 Standard providesa number of wizards to not only simplify the tasks of administration, but alsoto systemize the way that objects are used on the server. It is for these andother reasons that the Windows SBS 2011 Standard wizards should be used in allcircumstances. It is also important to remember that the native Windows Servertools can also be used if the functionality is not covered by the standardwizards.
You will find most of the native Windows Server tools underthe Administrative tools section which you can access from the server via theStart menu. From there you will see the standard list of native Windows Servertools including things such as Active Directory Users and Computers, ActiveDirectory Sites and Services, Active Directory Domains and Trusts, and so on.These are all available to administrators to use but should be used withcaution as the results of using these tools generally don't flow back to theWindows SBS 2011 Standard console. This may mean that changes made using thenative tools are not displayed in the Windows SBS 2011 Standard Console, makingfuture management more difficult.
If however, you have a need to add a user to additionalsecurity groups, such as Account Operator Group, you will need to use thenative tool Active Directory Users and computers.