top of page
Search
katjascott79

Get A List Of All Active Directory Users and Export Them to CSV



Windows Active Directory provides very useful enterprise user management capabilities. Powershell is a new scripting language provides for Microsoft Operating systems. Get-ADUser is a very useful command or commandlet which can be used to list Active Directory users in different ways.




Get A List Of All Active Directory Users




We will start with a simple example. We will list all domain users. In this example, we will do not provide any option or parameter to the Get-ADUser command. But after running the command we will be asked for a filter. We will provide asterisk * as a filter which means all users.


As an enterprise environment has a lot of users with different departments, containers, and OU we may need to list only given department, container or OU. We will use the -SearchBase option and provide the OU to filter users. In this example, we will use DC=ABC, DC=LOCAL


We can filter users by their username. We will use a query language that will specify the name in Powershell. We will also use the -Filter option. In this example, we will list users whose usernames start with the H letter.


As Active Directory is a very complex environment there are a lot of attributes and properties about users. By default, only some of them are printed like Name, SID, Surname, GivenName, etc. We can also list all of these attributes with the -Properties command and asterisk *.


Active Directory users can be disabled for different reasons like Security. So after a user account is disabled its Enabled property will be set to false. If we need to list only enabled users and filter out disabled users we can use Enabled -eq $True filter.


The Get-AdUser cmdlet in PowerShell is used to get one or more active directory users. An Active Directory Get-AdUser retrieves a default set of user properties. Using the Identity parameter, you can specify the active directory user to get its properties.


Get-AdUser cmdlet gets active directory user information. This cmdlet is used to get aduser all properties, get-aduser using userprincipalname, get active directory login details report, and so on.


I hope the above guide on PowerShell Get-ADUser cmdlet in an active directory is helpful to you while using it in your daily task to get active directory users, get-aduser all properties, and many more.


PowerShell User list is a way to retrieve the users from the local windows machines or the active directory users using the specific cmdlets like Get-LocalUser for the local users on windows OS and Get-ADUsers for the active directory users to retrieve the user details like Distinguished Name (DN), GUID, Security Identifier (SID), Security Account Manager (SAM) or name and can be exported to the CSV or the text file.


There are various methods to list the users in the PowerShell by using the Native commands like Get-LocalUser which retrieves the local user account details from the local computer or the remote computers or the Get-ADUser which retrieves the users from the Active Directory domain.


Get-LocalUser command was introduced in PowerShell 5.1 and it is part of Microsoft.PowerShell.LocalAccounts module. In the earlier PowerShell version, to retrieve the list of users you either need to download the local accounts module or you need to use the cmd command like Net User (which still works) or the WMI method class Win32_UserAccount.


As explained in this article, PowerShell uses the various commands to retrieve the list of the Users from the windows computer or from the active directory domain and that is helpful for administrators for their audit and clean-up tasks. You can use the task scheduler to send emails to Administrators for the list of created, expired, about to expire accounts monthly.


Users represent individual people or entities that have access to your directory. Groups are very useful for giving or denying privileges to groups of users, rather than having to apply those privileges to each individual user. If a user moves to a different organization, you move that user to a different group and they automatically receive the privileges needed for the new organization.


To create users and groups in an AWS Directory Service directory, you must use any instance (from either on-premises or EC2) that has been joined to your AWS Directory Service directory, and be logged in as a user that has privileges to create users and groups. You will also need to install the Active Directory Tools on your EC2 instance so you can add your users and groups with the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in. For more information about how to set up an EC2 instance and install the necessary tools, see Step 3: Deploy an EC2 instance to manage your AWS Managed Microsoft AD.


Account Operators: Active Directory group with default privileged rights on domain users and groups, plus the ability to logon to Domain ControllersWell-Known SID/RID: S-1-5-32-548The Account Operators group grants limited account creation privileges to a user. Members of this group can create and modify most types of accounts, including those of users, local groups, and global groups, and members can log in locally to domain controllers. Members of the Account Operators group cannot manage the Administrator user account, the user accounts of administrators, or the Administrators, Server Operators, Account Operators, Backup Operators, or Print Operators groups. Members of this group cannot modify user rights. The Account Operators group applies to versions of the Windows Server operating system listed in the Active Directory default security groups by operating system version.


Backup Operators: Local or Active Directory group. AD group members can backup or restore Active Directory and have logon rights to Domain Controllers (default).Well-Known SID/RID: S-1-5-32-551Members of the Backup Operators group can back up and restore all files on a computer, regardless of the permissions that protect those files. Backup Operators also can log on to and shut down the computer. This group cannot be renamed, deleted, or moved. By default, this built-in group has no members, and it can perform backup and restore operations on domain controllers. Its membership can be modified by the following groups: default service Administrators, Domain Admins in the domain, or Enterprise Admins. It cannot modify the membership of any administrative groups. While members of this group cannot change server settings or modify the configuration of the directory, they do have the permissions needed to replace files (including operating system files) on domain controllers. Because of this, members of this group are considered service administrators. The Backup Operators group applies to versions of the Windows Server operating system listed in the Active Directory default security groups by operating system version. This security group has not changed since Windows Server 2008.


Print OperatorsWell-Known SID/RID: S-1-5-32-550Members of this group can manage, create, share, and delete printers that are connected to domain controllers in the domain. They can also manage Active Directory printer objects in the domain. Members of this group can locally sign in to and shut down domain controllers in the domain. This group has no default members. Because members of this group can load and unload device drivers on all domain controllers in the domain, add users with caution. This group cannot be renamed, deleted, or moved. The Print Operators group applies to versions of the Windows Server operating system listed in the Active Directory default security groups by operating system version. This security group has not changed since Windows Server 2008. However, in Windows Server 2008 R2, functionality was added to manage print administration. For more information, see Assigning Delegated Print Administrator and Printer Permission Settings in Windows Server 2008 R2.


Protected UsersWell-known SID/RID: S-1-5-21--525Members of the Protected Users group are afforded additional protection against the compromise of credentials during authentication processes. This security group is designed as part of a strategy to effectively protect and manage credentials within the enterprise. Members of this group automatically have non-configurable protection applied to their accounts. Membership in the Protected Users group is meant to be restrictive and proactively secure by default. The only method to modify the protection for an account is to remove the account from the security group. This domain-related, global group triggers non-configurable protection on devices and host computers running Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1, and on domain controllers in domains with a primary domain controller running Windows Server 2012 R2. This greatly reduces the memory footprint of credentials when users sign in to computers on the network from a non-compromised computer.


Remote Desktop UsersWell-Known SID/RID: S-1-5-32-555The Remote Desktop Users group on an RD Session Host server is used to grant users and groups permissions to remotely connect to an RD Session Host server. This group cannot be renamed, deleted, or moved. It appears as a SID until the domain controller is made the primary domain controller and it holds the operations master role (also known as flexible single master operations or FSMO). The Remote Desktop Users group applies to versions of the Windows Server operating system listed in the Active Directory default security groups by operating system version. This security group has not changed since Windows Server 2008.


Schema AdminsWell-Known SID/RID: S-1-5--518Members of the Schema Admins group can modify the Active Directory schema. This group exists only in the root domain of an Active Directory forest of domains. It is a Universal group if the domain is in native mode; it is a Global group if the domain is in mixed mode. The group is authorized to make schema changes in Active Directory. By default, the only member of the group is the Administrator account for the forest root domain. This group has full administrative access to the schema. The membership of this group can be modified by any of the service administrator groups in the root domain. This is considered a service administrator account because its members can modify the schema, which governs the structure and content of the entire directory. For more information, see What Is the Active Directory Schema?: Active Directory. The Schema Admins group applies to versions of the Windows Server operating system listed in the Active Directory default security groups by operating system version. This security group has not changed since Windows Server 2008. 2ff7e9595c


0 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

コメント


bottom of page