Cannot Add User Account in Windows 7 Home Premium

Local Users and Groups management console (MMC) is not available in Windows 7 Starter and Home Premium.  Adding use account in these versions is through Control Panel / User Account.  If you get an error “The specified account is not valid, because account names cannot contain the following character…. Please type a different name”,

Here is how to troubleshoot

1. Verify the user account name do not contain the listing characters.
2. This error also happens when the user account name already exists.  Because the disabled account is hidden from Control Panel / User Account, type “net user” in the command prompt to view all user accounts.