How to Fix “The User Account Has Been Locked” Error on Windows Server

If you see the following error while attempting to login to your Windows VPS or Dedicated Server, please follow these steps to resolve.

“As a security precaution, the user account has been locked because there were too many logon attempts or password change attempts.”

How to Fix It

To resolve this, you will need to log into your server using an alternative method besides RDP. Some options include:

• IPMI or KVM over IP
• VNC (if available)
• Console access provided by Rackzar.

If these options are not available to you, you can try repeatedly connecting via RDP. In some cases, the account will unlock automatically after a timeout period or after many retry attempts.

Once you have gained access to the server, continue following the below instructions to fix this permanently.

Steps to Disable the Account Lockout Policy

Once you have access to your server, follow these steps to disable the account lockout threshold:

1. Press Windows + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog.
2. Type secpol.msc and press Enter.
3. In the Local Security Policy window, navigate to:
   Account Policies > Account Lockout Policy
4. Double-click on “Account lockout threshold”
5. Change the value from 10 to 0 and press OK.
6. Click OK again to apply the changes.

Once applied, it should look similar to the following screenshot: