The NET command

The NET command is used to manage requesters (networked computers), servers and network resources (network drives, printers, etcetera).
Most options of NET.EXE are also available in GUI style programs in Windows and OS/2, but for automating tasks nothing beats the command line interface of NET.EXE and its NT counterparts.

I "grew up" with OS/2 LAN Server's command line.
I automated many tasks using either batch files with NET.EXE or Rexx scripts with LAN Server RexxUtil.
After jumping on the NT train, it took me a while before I realized that I wasn't condemned to GUI style programs at all, as long as I had access to the Windows NT 4 and 2000 Server Resource Kit utilities.

Being an ex-OS/2 administrator, the first scripts I created for NT were (Regina) Rexx scripts, written for the Rexx version that comes with the Resource Kit.
After a while I switched to batch files combined with Resource Kit utilities.
To my surprise NT's batch language is almost as powerfull as a the Resource Kit's Rexx version.

One of the biggest problems when switching from LAN Server to NT is that many of NET.EXE's options have been moved to separate utilities in NT.
The following table and examples are meant as a cross reference: find the "original" LAN Manager/LAN Server command in the column on the left, and check the middle column to see what it translates to in NT.
Note that even when some NET commands remained the same, the options may still differ vastly.
Use NET HELP command to get online help.
In OS/2 you will get even more help on the available options using NET HELP command /O

Windows NT 4's help files contain, amongst others, a very helpful translation table too.
Look at the "Contents", "Windows NT Commands", "What's New or Different from LAN Manager?".

Note:		For NT I added several commands from the free PSTools toolkit. These tools can be used on local as well as remote systems. A must-have for Windows administrators.

LAN Server/LAN Manager and NT command translation
OS/2, LAN Server LAN Manager	Windows NT	Remarks
AT	AT	Schedule tasks
NET ACCESS	CACLS	Manage access. Alternative (non-native) commands for NT: XCACLS, SHOWACLS, RMTSHARE, SUBINACL, SECEDIT.
NET ACCOUNTS	NET ACCOUNTS
NET ADMIN	RCMD (1) PSEXEC	IMHO NET ADMIN was NT's worst omission. On the other hand, RCMD (1) and PSEXEC may very well be the best replacements one could ever wish.
NET ADMIN /C \\server NET ACCESS local_path ...	XCACLS (1) unc_path ... PSEXEC \\server CACLS local_path ...	For files only, CACLS can be used on UNC based names as well.
NET ADMIN /C \\domaincontroller NET GROUP globalgroup ...	NET GROUP globalgroup ... /DOMAIN
NET ADMIN /C \\server NET SHARE share ...	RMTSHARE (1) \\server\share ... PSEXEC \\server NET SHARE share ...
NET ADMIN /C \\domaincontroller NET USER user_id ...	NET USER user_id ... /DOMAIN
NET ADMIN /C \\server NET FILE ...	PSFILE \\server ...
NET ALIAS	None (2)
NET APP	None (2)
NET APPPARM	None (2)	OS/2 Warp 4.5 (eComStation) only
NET AUDIT	None (2)
NET COMM	None (2)
None (2)	NET COMPUTER
NET CONFIG	NET CONFIG	Display NetBIOS configuration information
NET CONTINUE	NET CONTINUE	Continue paused services
NET COPY	COPY XCOPY FCOPY (1)
NET DASD	None (2)
NET DEVICE	None (2)
NET ERROR	DUMPEL (1) PSLOGLIST
NET FILE	NET FILE	List files opened by remote computers
NET FORWARD	None (2)
NET GROUP	NET GROUP NET LOCALGROUP	List or manage groups and group membership
NET HELP	NET HELP NET HELPMSG	Use NET HELP to display syntax. Use NET HELPMSG to display information on error messages.
NET LOG	None (2)
NET MOVE	None (2)
NET NAME	NET NAME	List or manage NetBIOS names
NET PASSWORD	NET USER user_id new_password [ /DOMAIN ]	The command RUNDLL32.EXE NETPLWIZ.DLL,UsersRunDll will start the GUI for changing passwords (by Administrators only). [ Thanks for Steve Pasikowski for pointing out an error in the previously published command ]
NET PAUSE	NET PAUSE	Pause services
NET PRINT	NET PRINT
NET RIPLMACH	None (2)	OS/2 Warp 4.5 (eComStation) only
NET RIPLMCLAS	None (2)	OS/2 Warp 4.5 (eComStation) only
NET RUN	RCMD (1) PSEXEC
NET SEND	NET SEND	Send messages to other users or computers
NET SESSION	NET SESSION
NET SHARE	NET SHARE	In Windows Server 2003 the default permissions on shares have changed from Everyone Full Control to Everyone Read! Use the /GRANT:Everyone,Full switch to set permissions to the old default.
NET START	NET START	Start services
NET STATISTICS	NET STATISTICS
NET STATUS	NET CONFIG and NET SHARE
NET STOP	NET STOP	Stop services
NET TIME	NET TIME	Synchronize time with a remote computer, or display a remote computer's current time
NET USE	NET USE	NT's /USER switch makes this command extremely powerfull
NET USER	NET USER	List or manage users
NET VIEW	NET VIEW	List domains and workgroups (NT's /DOMAIN switch only only), computers, or shared devices
NET WHO	None (2)	IMHO this is NT's secondmost important omission. See NetWho and NetWho2 for an attempt to fill the gap. For small NT networks PSLOGGEDON may be a viable alternative.

Notes:	(1)	This utility comes with the Windows NT Server Resource Kit
	(2)	There seems to be no command line equivalent available in NT. However, for most tasks GUI style utilities are available in NT.

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Laxman