How to set Account lockout threshold on Windows 10 for local accounts
Passwords have become necessary to lock devices whether they’re desktops or smartphones. Passwords for devices can be guessed especially if someone is able to watch you enter a password or knows you well enough to make a few guesses and get it right. To safe guard against this, you can lock Windows 10 after the failed login attempts exceed a certain number by setting the account lockout threshold. This security measure is, unfortunately, only available if you use a local account on Windows 10.
Account lockout threshold
Locking Windows 10 after failed loginĀ attempts requires setting the Account lockout threshold which can be set from both the Group Policy, and from Command Prompt. Since Group Policy is not available on Windows 10 Home, we’re going to show you how you can set the Account lockout threshold from Command Prompt so that you have one process that works everywhere.
You will need admin rights to set the Account lockout threshold.
Open Command Prompt with admin rights and run the following command. It will show if the Account lockout threshold is set to anything. If it has never been set/configured before, it will say ‘Never’ against its entry.
net accounts
To set the threshold, run this command and replace the number at the end with the number of failed attempts that should trigger the lock out. The command below will set it to ten login attempts.
net accounts /lockoutthreshold:10
The command will return the same ‘Never’ value for the threshold entry however, if you run the net accounts command again, it will show the correct threshold that you’ve just set.
That’s all you need to do. Any time you want to reset this to 0, run the same command but replace the number at the end with 0.
Since this does not work with Microsoft Accounts, you should know that there are other ways to keep your system safe. For one, try using a PIN by default and use one that is alphanumeric instead of just four numbers. If someone fails to guess the PIN one too many times, Windows 10 will suggest they use an alternative sign in method. Additionally, learn how you can remotely lock your Windows 10 PC should the need arise. It’s also a good idea to set up two-factor authentication for a Microsoft account so that, in case someone uses it to sign in and change your account settings on Microsoft’s website, they are prevented from signing in.
