When you want to limit or block a user account, you are able to disable it temporarily. Here're the steps to disable a person account in Windows.

Windows causes it to be really simple to create a user account. All you need to do is set a username, assign a password, maybe answer some security questions and you're simply good to go. A new user account may have its very own settings and personalization options. This only denotes you don't need to bother about other users altering your settings. Actually, with respect to the user account type, you can even place and enforce your own rules like restrictions of program installations, what options can they change, etc.

Though developing a new user account is pretty easy, you can't say the same should you just want to disable a user account. Sure you are able to completely remove a user account or change its account type but Windows doesn't provide any easy way to disable a user account. In case you are wondering, disabling a user account is very useful when you want to temporarily restrict it. For instance, if you are sharing your pc together with your kids or nephews, it can regularly be helpful to lock them out if needed.

So, within this quick tutorial let me show the steps to disable user account in Windows.

Note: I'm using Windows 10 to exhibit the procedure but the same steps can be followed in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

1] lusrmgr.msc Method (easy)

Advanced User Management (lusrmgr.msc) enables you to manage all the users in your body in one place. Disabling an account is one such functionality. The advisable thing is, you are able to disable a person account with a single checkbox. Just stick to the steps out of the box and you will be good. Remember that the lusrmgr.msc tool is just available to Windows Pro users. If you are using Windows Home edition, I suggest you follow the second method.

1. First, open the Run dialog box by pressing the Win + R keyboard shortcut. In the blank field, type lusrmgr.msc and then click the "Ok" button. As soon as you press the button, Local Users & Groups snap-in window will open.

2. Here, click the "Users" folder to determine all of the users in your system. Find the user account you want to disable and double-click onto it.

3. Within the Advanced Properties window, select the "Account is disabled" checkbox. Click the "Ok" button in order to save changes.

Once you save the changes, the account is quickly disabled. In fact, you can even see a down arrow icon over the user account name/icon. That icon represents a disabled user account.

Because the user account is disabled, it will not show up on the login screen and the user cannot log into that exact account. Although the user account is disabled, the user account specific settings and files are still intact.

To allow the account, go through the steps again but uncheck the "Account is disabled" checkbox in step 3.

2] Command to Disable User Account

If you're a Windows Home user you will want to use a command to disable the consumer account. The good thing is, the command is fairly easy to remember and execute. Just follow the steps and you will be good.

1. First, open elevated Command Prompt window by searching for "cmd" in the start menu, right-clicking on it and selecting the "Run as administrator" option.

2. Before you can disable the consumer account, you should know the user name from the target account. Should you know the username, skip this task. Otherwise, execute the below command to see the usernames of all of the accounts in your system.

net user

3. Knowing the username, make use of the following command while replacing <username> with the actual username you have in the last step.

net user <username> /active:no

Once you execute the command, the user account will be disabled instantly. Just like with the first method, the consumer account won't be visible around the lock screen and also the target user cannot log to their user account.

If you want to reverse the process and enable the user account then execute the below command. As you can see, the command is extremely similar. All we did is to replace "no" with "yes".

net user <username> /active:yes

That is all.