How to Set Up Email Notifications for Locked User Accounts

Configure a scheduled task trigger to notify administrators of account lockout issues in Windows.

User accounts should always be password-protected using a complex password. The more complex passwords, however, usually contain a lower case, upper case, number and special character. This makes the passwords hard to remember and easy for users to get locked out of their email account if they perform three failed log-in attempts. Configure email lockout notifications to be sent to an administrator email address. This will provide user support quickly and detect hacker attempts when they occur.

Things You'll Need

• Microsoft Windows 2008 Server computer configured as an Active Directory Domain Controller
• Credentials of an account with Administrator permissions on the Windows Server 2008 computer
• Source email address
• Destination email address to which the notifications will be sent

Instructions

1. Click the "Start" button on the Windows Server 2008 computer PC desktop and click "Administrative Tools" and then click "Task Scheduler." Click the "Create Task" link.

2. Click the "Run whether user is logged on or not" radio button. Click the "Trigger" tab and click "New." Select the "On an Event" option in the "Begin a task" drop-down box. Click the "Basic" radio button. Click the "Security" selection in the "Log" box. Click the "Microsoft Windows Security Auditing" in the "Source" box. Type "4740" in the "Event ID" box. Click the "Enabled" check box in the lower left corner. Click the "OK" button.

3. Click the "Actions" tab and click "New." Click the "Action" drop-down menu box and click "Send an e-mail." Type the source email address in the "From" text box. Type the destination email address in the "To" text box. Enter a subject line message in the "Subject" text box. Type the notification message in the "Text" text box. Type the domain name of the email server to which the email will be sent into the "SMTP server" box and click the "OK" button.

References

• Kayako: Setting Up a Server Cron or Scheduled Task
• StevenJBradbury: Active Directory User Account Lockout Notification (Part 1)

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish