How to Set Up Local Account Lockout Policies Consistently Across All Clients Using PowerShell and Local Policies Protect devices from suspicious login attempts by enforcing local account lockout policies across client endpoints. Before we begin, be sure to subscribe to NinjaOne’s IT video hub and our YouTube channel for more tech content like this. What are Local Account Lockout Policies? Local lockout policies are a fundamental part of securing devices across an enterprise environment. Enforcing these policies helps protect devices from repeated unauthorized login attempts. And with modern automation tools, deploying them consistently across your environment is easier than ever. Here’s a five-step guide to implementing and validating local account lockout policies across managed endpoints. Five Steps to Implement and Enforce Local Account Lockout Policies Firstly, you’ll need to establish the values of your lockout policies. Ask yourself the following questions: How many invalid attempts should be allowed before a user is locked out of the account? And how long should the failed-attempt counter take to reset? Once you’ve defined those values, document them, verify they align with contractual and regulatory requirements, and store them in an accessible file-sharing platform such as SharePoint. Next, open the Local Group Policy Editor and navigate to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Account Policies > Account Lockout Policy. Then, configure the following policies: Account lockout threshold, Account lockout duration, and Reset account lockout counter after. In this example, we set the lockout threshold to 5 attempts, the lockout duration to 15 minutes, and the reset duration to 15 minutes. Apply these settings to all required devices or organizational units in your environment. Afterwards, use PowerShell to automate lockout policy enforcement on standalone systems. Open Windows PowerShell with administrator privileges, and run the following script: If any errors occur, document them to support auditing and compliance reporting. After this, track and confirm the enforcement status. Go to Registry Editor, and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Org\LockoutPolicy. Here, you can record policy enforcement and tracking information using the following custom Registry values: LockoutThreshold, LockoutDuration, ResetCounterMinutes, and LastPolicyUpdate. And finally, validate the policies by opening Command Prompt with admin access and running the command net accounts. Command Prompt will display the device’s current account lockout policy settings. After verifying the policy settings, run the command to review recent failed login attempts in the Security event log: Limiting login attempts prevents accounts from being easily accessed by foreign and suspicious users. For more information, check out our official blog post on How to Set Up Local Account Lockout Policies Across Clients, linked in the description below.