Active Directory Cookbook

6.10. Troubleshooting Account Lockout Problems

Problem

A user is having account lockout problems and you need to determine where it is getting locked from and how it is getting locked out.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

LockoutStatus is a new tool available for Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 that can help identify which domain controllers users are getting locked out. It works by querying the lockout status of a user against all domain controllers in the user’s domain.

To determine the lockout status of a user

1. Open LockoutStatus and select File → Select Target from the menu.

2. Enter the target user name and the domain of the user.

3. Click OK.

At this point, each domain controller in the domain will be queried and the results will be displayed.

Discussion

The Lockoutstatus.exe tool is just one of many that are available in the new “Account Lockout and Management” tool set provided by Microsoft. These new lockout tools are intended to help administrators with account lockout problems that are very difficult to troubleshoot given the tools available under Windows 2000. Along with the tool mentioned in the Solution Section, here are a few others that are included in the set:

ALockout.dll

A script that uses this DLL called EnableKerbLog.vbs is included with the tool set that can be used to enable logging of application authentication. This can help identify applications using bad credentials that are causing account lockouts.

ALoInfo.exe

Displays services and shares that are using ...