Creating user groups and assigning users in Windows Server 2008

I'm setting up an FTP server on a Windows Server 2008 r2 system. Rather than deal with setting filesystem permissions for users manually, I would like to simply grant a single group read/write access and then add new users to that group.

On a Linux system, I could create the group and add users with the following commands:

# Create the group.
groupadd <groupname>

# Create a new user and add him to the new group.
useradd -G <groupname> <username>

# Or add an existing user.
usermod -a -G <groupname> <username>

On the Windows server, however, I can't seem to find a way to do that. How do I create a new group and add users to it on Windows Server 2008 r2?

The answer depends on whether the server is a part of an Active Directory domain:

• If the server is a standalone server, run compmgmt.msc to access the Computer Management snap-in. From there, you can edit the local computer's users and groups.

• If the server is joined to an Active Directory domain, run dsa.mmc to access the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in. From there, you can edit the domain-wide users and groups.

Keep in mind you will have to escalate to Administrator privileges to make changes in either place.