How to Lock Windows User Account after Failed Login Attempt

If your computer is in a place where other people have access to it, it’s never a bad idea to take some steps to protect the content and other important personal information that is in it. A good idea, for example, is to have the computer automatically block your access for a period of time after someone uses a wrong password to use it.

In turn, Windows 10 natively features this automatic machine lock feature, but it is not enabled by default and is not as easily localizable within your settings. Here’s how to get Windows to automatically lock itself for a while after incorrect login attempts on it.

Important

Before proceeding with this tutorial, although it uses a native system feature, it is advisable to back up your important data as well as a restore point on the machine. If more than one person uses the computer, also remember to create a user for each person and explain what was done to avoid any problems.

How to Make Windows SAutomatically lock the Machine

The configuration to be performed below is very simple and does not require many steps, but you must be using an account with administrator privileges to perform it. Here’s how to proceed:

1. Open the Start menu and look for the “Local Security Policy” item;
2. From the menu on the left side of the screen, go to: Security Settings> Account Policies> Account Lockout Policy “;
3. Now double-click on “Account lockout limit”;
4. Enter the number of attempts that should take to make the block. Click “Apply”;
5. In the window that appears, click “Ok” and then “Ok” again;
6. Restart the computer.

At this point, the above configuration to automatically lock the machine is already working and, if this automatic locking occurs, the machine can only be reused after thirty minutes. If you want to change this time limit,

Just follow these steps:

1. Back to the “Local Security Policy” screen, re-enter “Security Settings> Account Policies> Account Lockout Policy.” This time double-click on “Account lockout duration”;
2. Set how long the computer should remain locked.

If you want, by following these same steps, you can also use the “Reset account lock after account” function to set a time when the computer will forget that attempts have been made to access it.

Ready! Now, you already know how to make your machine more protected from people trying to access it without knowing your password. To revert the changes made in this tutorial, simply re-enter the “Account lockout limit” option and set the trial value to “0”.