Get local user accounts on specified computer

Here is a little function I put together that returns a list of all user account names on the specified computer.

You need to add a reference to System.DirectoryServices to be able to use this function.

Function:

vb Code:

''' <summary>
''' Returns a list of user accounts found on the specified computer
''' </summary>
''' <param name="MachineName">The computer to get user accounts from</param>
Private Function GetLocalUsers(ByVal MachineName As String) As List(Of String)
        Dim WinNt As New DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry("WinNT://" & MachineName)
        Dim UserList As New List(Of String)
 
        For Each User As DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry In WinNt.Children
            If User.SchemaClassName = "User" Then
                UserList.Add(User.Name)
            End If
        Next
 
        Return UserList
End Function

Example:

If you just want it to return the usernames on the local computer then just pass the string "localhost" in as the machine name, like so:

vb Code:

'Get the users, using our GetLocalUsers function
Dim Users As List(Of String) = GetLocalUsers("localhost")
 
'loop through the users and show each user in a messagebox
For Each User As String In Users
      MessageBox.Show(User)
Next