Stop User From Logging In Windows XP In Specific Time Interval

Trouble:

We received a problem from one of our reader who wants to restrict logon hours in windows xp, on his son user account as his son keeps playing games on the computer all the time.

Playing games is always fun for children but this could be a great problem if it impacts their studies too much. In order to restrict logon hours in windows there is hardly any freeware but it can be easily through simple commands prompt.

We have covered the same topic for Widows Vista- Restrict Computer Usage In Windows Vista

You can use the following commands to restrict logon or access to windows for specific users in windows xp.

Fix:

1. Open Start Menu >> Run, type “cmd” and press Enter key on the keyboard.

2. Now suppose the username for which you want to restrict windows logon in between specific time interval is Harry 

To set, the time limit the user “Harry” to login Monday – Friday between 8am and 5pm, then you would need to type the following commands at the command prompt

net user Harry /time:M-F,08:00-17:00

same as above, but if you are using a 12-hour clock then type

net user Harry /time:M-F,8am-5pm

here’s a more elaborative command to specify different times for different days:

net user Harry /time:M,4pm-7pm;T-TH,16:00-18:00;F-SU,11am-9pm

These commands restrict a user from logging on, however they do not force a logoff when a user is already logged in.

Note: These logon hours do not have an effect Administrator level accounts, so first make sure that the user account does not have administrative privileges. 

Whenever you want to remove the time restrictions, type the following command at the command prompt

net user Harry /time:all

3. Exit from command prompt

Author + Admin: Rohit Khurana
Software Engineer by profession. I am a part time tech blogger and believe in blogging because I enjoy writing on technology. I also write about Cars and Bikes at www.carblogindia.com. You can catch me on twitter @rohit_khurana. Get in touch with me at RohitKhurana.in.