Troubleshoot: User Accounts on Windows

When you create a user in JumpCloud where the username in JumpCloud matches the short username on your Windows host, the expected behavior is that JumpCloud takes over the existing account, and manages it from that point forward.

With a Windows device, there are a few things to be aware of relating to usernames:

• Windows Live: JumpCloud can only partially take over an account that is linked to Windows Live. It will be able to disable and re-enable a Windows Live account, but will be unable to modify its password. To allow JumpCloud to fully control the account, you must convert it from a Windows Live account to a standard local account.
• Windows PIN or Picture Passwords: JumpCloud can only partially take over an account that has been configured for PIN or Picture Passwords. To allow JumpCloud to fully control the account, you must remove PIN/Picture Passwords from the local user before takeover.
• Username versus Full Name: As with both OS X and Linux, Windows stores two user names for each local user account: the username, which is a short name, often also called a login name, and the Full Name. The Full Name is primarily cosmetic, it’s what the user sees on the login screen, and is used as the name for their home directory. JumpCloud links the account via the username only, since it’s guaranteed to be unique on the system. Because of that, you may need to list the usernames of the users on your Windows systems to obtain the correct usernames.
• Username case-sensitivity: In order for the JumpCloud agent to take over a Windows account, not only must the username in JumpCloud match the username on the Windows host, but it’s also case-sensitive. This means that if a username, ‘Jonathan’, exists on the Windows server, the JumpCloud username must also be ‘Jonathan’, or JumpCloud will be unable to find and control the user account.
• Username contains a space: In some instances, Windows creates a local account username with a space which JumpCloud doesn’t support for take over (“john smith” for example). You’ll need to change the username on the device to align with JumpCloud’s naming convention requirements. See Naming Conventions for Users and Change Windows Username.