Net Accounts
The Net Accounts command provides a method for displaying the account policies for
the domain. You can see a sample of the Net Accounts command here.
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net accounts
Force user logoff how long after time expires?: Never
Minimum password age (days): 0
Maximum password age (days): Unlimited
Minimum password length: 0
Length of password history maintained: None
Lockout threshold: Never
Lockout duration (minutes): 30
Lockout observation window (minutes): 30
Computer role: BACKUP
Primary domain controller for workstation domain: \\SCOOBY
The command completed successfully.

Net Computer
The Net Computer command allows you to add a computer account to or remove a
computer account from a domain. What’s cool about this command is that if you have a
list of computer account names, you could write a simple batch file to add or remove
those account names. You can see a sample of the Net Computer command’s
functionality here.
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net computer
The syntax of this command is:
NET COMPUTER \\computername {/ADD | /DEL}
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net computer \\homer /add
The request will be processed at the primary domain controller for
domain BUD.
The command completed successfully.

Net Config
Many times when I’ve been working on someone else’s computer, I’ve needed to know
the basic settings, such as the computer name, the workgroup name, and the name of the
user who’s logged in. The Net Config command provides a quick and easy way to
acquire this information. In a Windows 98 or Windows Me environment, the Net Config
command displays the type of information shown below:
C:\WINDOWS>net config
Computer name \\TAZ
User name ADMINISTRATOR
Workgroup BUD
Workstation root directory C:\WINDOWS
Software version 4.90.3000
Redirector version 4.00
The command was completed successfully.
The Net Config command also works in Windows NT. The main difference is that you
have to specify whether you want to display a summary of a server or a workstation. For
example, you’d enter Net Config Workstation. You’d then see a summary similar to the
one given in Windows Me but with slightly more detail.

Net Continue
You use the Net Continue command to restart a service that has been paused by a Net
Pause command. The syntax for the command is
C:\Windows>net continue service
where service is the name of the service you paused.

Net File
Need to find out who’s using files on your server? Just use the Net File command. As you
can see here, the Net File command provides you with a quick summary of which users
are attached and how many files they have locked.
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net file
ID Path User name # Locks
———————————————————————–
3 H:\USERS\Administrator Administrator 0
6 H:\USERS\Administrator Administrator 0
16 \PIPE\samr 0
The command completed successfully.
Net Group
The Net Group command allows you to display all of the groups that exist within a
domain. You can see a sample of this command here.
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net group
Group Accounts for \\TITANIUM
—————————————————————–
*Domain Admins *Domain Guests *Domain Users
*Finance *MTS Trusted Impersonators*test group
*ZZZZ
The command completed successfully.

Net Help
The Net Help command gives you detailed information on a Net command. To use it, just
type net help command, where command is the name of the command you want help
with. 

Net Helpmsg
If Windows 2000 has a problem, it often coughs up confusing error messages and
numbers. You can use the Net Helpmsg command to try to find out what the error
messages mean. Just type Net Helpmsg errornumber, where errornumber is the error that
Windows 2000 has given you.

Net Localgroup
Just as the Net Group command displays all of the domain’s groups, the Net Localgroup
command displays a list of the groups that are specific to the local computer. Here’s a
sample of the Net Localgroup command.
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net localgroup
Aliases for \\TITANIUM
——————————————————————-
*Account Operators *Administrators *Backup Operators
*Guests *MTS Impersonators *Print Operators
*Replicator *Server Operators *Users
The command completed successfully.

Net Name
You can use the Net Name command to control the name of the server when it sends and
receives messages online. If you use the command by itself, you can see the current
names configured for your computer. You can add or delete names by using the /ADD
and /DELETE switches, respectively.

Net Pause
The Net Pause command pauses services running on your server. It can be useful if you
need to pause a service to troubleshoot or make changes to it. To use it, just type Net
Pauseservice, where service is the name of the service you want to pause.

Net Print
I can’t count the number of times I’ve needed to add printing capabilities to a batch file.
In older versions of Windows, network printing from a batch file usually meant using the
Net Use command to capture a printer port and then printing to the captured port.
Unfortunately, this technique can cause confusion for end users the next time they try to
print because they may have already been using the printer port that the batch file
reassigned. If your users are working in a Windows 98, Me, or NT environment, the Net
Print command is a good alternative to traditional batch-file printing. The Net Print
command allows you to send print jobs to a network printer without c
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net print
The syntax of this command is:
NET PRINT \\computername\sharename
[\\computername] job# [/HOLD | /RELEASE | /DELETE]

Net Send
The Net Send command can be used to send a pop-up message to network users. Just
enter the username and the message. As you can see in this sample, the command also
offers the capability to send messages to users in another domain.
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net send
The syntax of this command is:
NET SEND {name | * | /DOMAIN[:name] | /USERS} message
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net send Administrator This is a test
The message was successfully sent to ADMINISTRATOR.

Net Session
The Net command can even be used to see which computers are attached to your
computer. Simply enter the Net Session command, and you’ll see a summary, similar to
this one.
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net session
Computer User name Client Type Opens Idle time
——————————————————————–
\\TAZMANIA Windows 2000 21951 01D 10H 46M
\\TITANIUM Windows NT 1381 0 11D 00H 42M
\\TITANIUM Administrator Windows NT 1381 2 00:00:00
The command completed successfully.

Net Share
If you’d like to see which shares exist on a PC, you can do so by using the Net Share
command. You can see a sample of this command here.
Share name Resource Remark
——————————————————————–
C$ C:\ Default share
ADMIN$ C:\WINNT Remote Admin
REPL$ C:\WINNT\System32\Repl\Export
IPC$ Remote IPC
H$ H:\ Default share
F$ F:\ Default share
print$ C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS Printer Drivers
dfs F:\dfs
home_server F:\home_server
Microsoft UAM Volume
F:\Microsoft UAM Volume
NETLOGON C:\WINNT\System32\Repl\Import\S Logon server share
titanium F:\titanium
USERS H:\USERS
4SIMX LPT1: Spooled Marketing
4SIMX2 LPT1: Spooled Management
4SIMX3 LPT1: Spooled Finance
The command completed successfully. 

Net Start
This command starts any of the various services that are running. You can also use the
Net Pause or Net Continue command to pause or resume services.

Net Statistics
Perhaps one of the most useful Net commands is Net Statistics. The Net Statistics
command provides some hard-core statistics on how a server or workstation is
communicating across the network. This command merely requires you to follow the Net
Statistics command with the word Server or Workstation, as shown here.
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net statistics workstation
Workstation Statistics for \\TITANIUM
Statistics since 12/1/00 6:27 AM
Bytes received 4885909
Server Message Blocks (SMBs) received 51520
Bytes transmitted 6101020
Server Message Blocks (SMBs) transmitted 51523
Read operations 23
Write operations 1199
Raw reads denied 0
Raw writes denied 0
Network errors 0
Connections made 2433
Reconnections made 1
Server disconnects 6
Sessions started 2824
Hung sessions 0
Failed sessions 0
Failed operations 3
Use count 3212
Failed use count 285
The command completed successfully.

Net Stop
This command is the opposite of Net Start. As you can probably guess, this command
stops services from running on your server.

Net Time
One of the commands that I’ve personally found very useful is the Net Time command.
The Net Time command is used to synchronize the time on a workstation with the time
on a server. Here’s the syntax for the Net Time command:
NET TIME [\\computer | /WORKGROUP:wgname] [/SET] [/YES]
• computer—Specifies the name of the computer (time server) whose time you
want to check or synchronize your computer’s clock with.
• /WORKGROUP—Specifies that you want to use the clock on a computer (time
server) in another workgroup.
• wgname—Specifies the name of the workgroup containing a computer whose
clock you want to check or synchronize your computer’s clock with. If there are
multiple time servers in that workgroup, NET TIME uses the first one it finds.
• /SET—Synchronizes your computer’s clock with the clock on the computer or
workgroup you specify.
• /YES—Carries out the NET TIME command without first prompting you to
provide information or confirm actions.

Net Use
Without a doubt, the most powerful Net command in any version of Windows is the Net
Use command. The Net Use command is used to attach to resources such as network
shares or printers. For example, to map the Q: drive to a share called Articles on a server
called Tazmania, you could enter the following command:
Net Use Q: \\Tazmania\Articles
Likewise, you could map LPT1 to a network printer that’s attached to a server called
Scooby and shared as HP by entering the following command:
Net Use LPT1: \\Scooby\HP
The Net Use command also provides mechanisms for removing connections that you’ve
made and for entering passwords. Here’s a full summary of the Net Use syntax.
C:\WINDOWS>net use /?
Connects or disconnects your computer from a shared
resource or displays information about your connections.
NET USE [drive: | *] [\\computer\directory [password | ?]]
[/SAVEPW:NO] [/YES] [/NO]
NET USE [port:] [\\computer\printer [password | ?]]
[/SAVEPW:NO] [/YES] [/NO]
NET USE drive: | \\computer\directory /DELETE [/YES]
NET USE port: | \\computer\printer /DELETE [/YES]
NET USE * /DELETE [/YES]
NET USE drive: | * /HOME
drive Specifies the drive letter you assign to a
shared directory.
* Specifies the next available drive letter.
If used with /DELETE, specifies to
disconnect all of your connections.
port Specifies the parallel (LPT) port name you
assign to a shared printer.
computer Specifies the name of the computer sharing
the resource.
directory Specifies the name of the shared directory.
printer Specifies the name of the shared printer.
password Specifies the password for the shared
resource, if any.
? Specifies that you want to be prompted for the
password of the shared resource. You don’t
need to use this option unless the password is
optional.
/SAVEPW:NO Specifies that the password you type
should not be saved in your password-list
file. You need to retype the password the
next time you connect to this resource.
/YES Carries out the NET USE command without
first prompting you to provide information or
confirm actions.
/DELETE Breaks the specified connection to a shared
resource.
/NO Carries out the NET USE command, responding
with NO automatically when you are prompted
to confirm actions.
/HOME Makes a connection to your HOME directory if
one is specified in your LAN Manager or
Windows NT user account.
To list all of your connections, type NET USE without options. To see this information
one screen at a time, type the following at the command prompt:
NET USE /? | MORE
or
NET HELP USE | MORE
Net User
Another use for the Net command is viewing all of the user accounts that exist on a given
machine. To do so, simply enter the Net User command, as shown here.
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net user
User accounts for \\TITANIUM
—————————————————————
Admin Administrator Billy_Brown
Brien Brien_Posey Guest
IUSR_SCOOBY IUSR_TALAINIA IUSR_TITANIUM
IWAM_SCOOBY IWAM_TALAINIA IWAM_TITANIUM
Jeremy_Broyles Kendall_Hensley Migrate
Normal Rep Shamir
Shamir_Dasgupta Talainia_Posey Taz
Test
The command completed successfully.
Net View
This command displays the other computers that are visible on the network. You can see
a sample of Net View’s output here.
Z:\USERS\Administrator>net view
Server Name Remark
——————————————
\\SCOOBY
\\TALAINIA
\\TAZ BRIEN
\\TAZMANIA
\\TITANIUM
The command completed successfully.