Troubleshooting: Account Lock Out Issues

If an account keeps getting locked out whether its on a local computer or a domain controller (depending on the type of network the machine is on).  There are some basic steps you can follow to try to troubleshoot the lockout issue. 

One of the first places to start is to search the event logs on the local computer or a domain controller for account lockout problems. 

Below is a list of common problems that can cause an account to get locked out: 

• Is the account logged onto more than one machine?
• Check the following area for processes that could be running under invalid cached credentials:
• Mapped drives
• Task Scheduler tasks 
• System services 
• Proxy or firewall authentication 
• Run a malware scan on the local computer.

Note: This problems can also be caused by badly configured security policies on a large network.

Microsoft also offers the Account Lockout and Management Tools that can be used to help troubleshoot these types of problems.  Check out a tool called EVENTCOMBMT.EXE.