Local Users and Groups is a tool you can use to manage local users and groups. It is available on computers running Windows 2000 Professional and member servers running Windows 2000 Server.
A local user or group is an account that can be granted permissions and rights from your computer. Domain or global users and groups are managed by your network administrator. You can add local users, global users, and global groups to local groups. However, you cannot add local users and groups to global groups.
Users and groups are important in Windows 2000 security because you can limit the ability of users and groups to perform certain actions by assigning them rights and permissions. A right authorizes a user to perform certain actions on a computer, such as backing up files and folders or shutting down a computer. A permission is a rule associated with an object (usually a file, folder, or printer) and it regulates which users can have access to the object and in what manner.
Local Users and Groups is not available on domain controllers. Use Active Directory Users and Computers to manage global users and groups.
For more information, see: