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 is a powerful cmdlet to get-aduser all properties, get user using samaccountname and use the get-aduser filter parameter to get specific user object.
Using the Get-AdUser Identity parameter, you can perform a search to get specific ad users.
In this article, I will explain the Get-ADUser cmdlet to get active directory user objects with different examples.
Note: To use PowerShell Get-ADUser cmdlet, requires the Active Directory add-on module to be installed.
Let’s understand the PowerShell Get-AdUser cmdlet with syntax and examples.
Let’s practice!
Table of Contents hide
1Get-AdUser Syntax
2Get-AdUser Examples
3Get-AdUser All Properties
4Get AdUser Default and Extended Properties
5Get-AdUser using SAMAccountName
6Get-AdUser in Specific OU (Organizational Unit)
7Export Ad users to CSV file
8Get-AdUser Password Last Set Older than X Days
9Get AdUser Manager Name
10Get-Aduser AccountExpirationDate
11Get AdUser BadPwdCount
12Get AdUser Manager SamAccountName
13Conclusion
14Recommended Content
Get-AdUser Syntax
Active Directory Get-AdUser syntax
Get-ADUser [-AuthType <ADAuthType>] [-Credential <PSCredential>] -Filter <String> [-Properties <String[]>] [-ResultPageSize <Int32>] [-ResultSetSize <Int32>] [-SearchBase <String>] [-SearchScope <ADSearchScope>] [-Server <String>] [<CommonParameters>]Get-ADUser [-AuthType <ADAuthType>] [-Credential <PSCredential>] [-Identity] <ADUser> [-Partition <String>] [-Properties <String[]>] [-Server <String>] [<CommonParameters>]Get-ADUser [-AuthType <ADAuthType>] [-Credential <PSCredential>] -LDAPFilter <String> [-Properties <String[]>] [-ResultPageSize <Int32>] [-ResultSetSize <Int32>] [-SearchBase <String>] [-SearchScope <ADSearchScope>] [-Server <String>] [<CommonParameters>]
Description
Get-AdUser is used to get one or more active directory objects or perform a search to get specific users.
–AuthType– authentication method to use based on either Basic (or 1) or Negotiate (or 0).
SSL (Secure Socket Layer) connection is required to use the Basic Authentication method.
–CredentialPSCredential – It specifies user credentials required to perform the get-aduser cmdlet. It default accepts the credentials of logged-on users.
To use the Credential parameter, use username as User1 or domain\User1 or you can create and usePSCredentialobject by usingGet-Credentialcmdlet.
-Identity– It specifies ad user by using property value
- Distinguished Name
- SAMAccountName
- Security Identifier
- GUID
The identifier specified in parenthesis is the LDAP display name.
-Partition– It specifies the distinguished name of an active directory partition.
–Filter– It specifies a query string (PowerShell Expression Language Syntax) to retrieve Active Directory objects. PowerShell wildcards other than * are not supported byfiltersyntax.
-LDAPFilter– LDAPFilter query string is used to filter Active Directory objects.
Get-AdUser cmdlet returns the default set of properties. However, if you want to get all properties, use the Properties parameter.
Let’s understand using the PowerShell Get-AdUser with different examples.
Get-AdUser Examples
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.
Get-AdUser All Properties
Using the Properties parameter, you can get all properties.
Get-ADUser -Identity Toms -Properties *
In the above get aduser example, Get-AdUser gets all properties of SAMAccountName user specified by the Identity parameter.
It prints user properties on the console.
Get AdUser Default and Extended Properties
Get-AdUser cmdlet retrieves a default set of user account properties.
Using the Get-Member cmdlet, you can get a list of the default sets of properties for a Get-AdUser object.
Get-AdUser <user> | Get-Member
Get-Member cmdlet gets the members, properties, and methods of an ad user account object.
You can get the most commonly used Get-AdUser properties.
Get-AdUser <user> -Properties Extended | Get-Member
Using the Extended parameter, you can get aduser extended properties.
You can get a list of all aduser object properties.
Get-AdUser <user> -Properties * | Get-Member
Get-AdUser using SAMAccountName
Using the Get-Aduser Filter parameter, you can get ad user using SAMAccountName.
Get-ADUser -Filter "samaccountname -like 'Toms'"
In the above PowerShell get aduser script, Get-AdUser cmdlet gets aduser samaccountname like Toms using the filter parameter
It returns the user properties like Name, SID, and UserPrincipalName.
DistinguishedName : CN=Tom Smith,OU=SALES,DC=SHELLPRO,DC=LOCALEnabled : TrueGivenName : TomName : Tom SmithObjectClass : userObjectGUID : 1f3a2572-2621-4e47-9bdf-81d1f8172f69SamAccountName : tomsSID : S-1-5-21-1326752099-4012446882-462961959-1103Surname : SmithUserPrincipalName : [emailprotected]Get-AdUser in Specific OU (Organizational Unit)
You can get a list all adusers in specific OU (OrganizationalUnit) using the PowerShell Get-AdUser SearchBase parameter.
Get-ADUser -SearchBase "OU=HR,DC=SHELLPRO,DC=LOCAL" -Filter * -Properties Name
In the above PowerShell get-aduser searchbase script, it gets a list of all users in specific OU specified by the Get-AdUser SearchBase parameter and filter parameter.
The output of the above adusers in specific OU.
DistinguishedName : CN=Erick Jones,OU=HR,DC=SHELLPRO,DC=LOCALEnabled : TrueGivenName : ErickName : Erick JonesObjectClass : userObjectGUID : 43551543-0214-4656-bd18-9f2dec5f8076SamAccountName : ErickJSID : S-1-5-21-1326752099-4012446882-462961959-1105Surname : JonesUserPrincipalName : [emailprotected]DistinguishedName : CN=Gary Willy,OU=HR,DC=SHELLPRO,DC=LOCALEnabled : TrueGivenName : GaryName : Gary WillyObjectClass : userObjectGUID : a65bc140-d8dc-43b9-988d-2c0afa163be1SamAccountName : garywSID : S-1-5-21-1326752099-4012446882-462961959-2601Surname : WillyUserPrincipalName : [emailprotected]Export Ad users to CSV file
To export ad users to a CSV file, use Get-AdUser to list all user properties, and use the Export-CSV cmdlet to export ad users to a CSV file on the path specified.
Get-ADUser -SearchBase "OU=HR,DC=SHELLPRO,DC=LOCAL" -Filter * -Properties Name | Select-Object Name, DistinguishedName,Enabled,UserPrincipalName,SamAccountName| Export-Csv -Path C:\get-adusers.csv -NoTypeInformation
In the above PowerShell get ad user script,
Get-AdUser gets list of all users in specified OU using the Get-AdUser SearchBase parameter and passes the output to the second command.
The second command use Select-Object to get name, distinguishedname, enabled, userprincipalname, and samaccountname and pass output to the third command.
The third command uses PowerShell Export-Csv cmdlet to export a list of adusers to a CSV file on the path specified.
the output of export ad users to CSV file as below in CSV
"Name","DistinguishedName","Enabled","UserPrincipalName","SamAccountName""Erick Jones","CN=Erick Jones,OU=HR,DC=SHELLPRO,DC=LOCAL","True","[emailprotected]","ErickJ""Gary Willy","CN=Gary Willy,OU=HR,DC=SHELLPRO,DC=LOCAL","True","[emailprotected]","garyw"Get-AdUser Password Last Set Older than X Days
You can get list of adusers passwords last set older than specified days.
Get-ADUser -Filter 'Enabled -eq $True' -Properties PasswordLastSet | Where-Object {$_.PasswordLastSet -lt (Get-Date).adddays(-90)} | select Name,SamAccountName,PasswordLastSetIn the above PowerShell script, the Get-AdUser cmdlet gets a list of ad users who are active using Enabled Property.
Enabled property used to get aduser is active or disabled in active directory.
The second command use Where-Object to check the PassWordLastSet attribute less than 90 days using the Get-Date cmdlet and passes the output to the third command.
Third command select name, samaccountname, and passwordlastset properties to console.
The output of the above PowerShell script to get aduser password last set older than 90 days are as below
Name SamAccountName PasswordLastSet---- -------------- ---------------Gary Willy garyw 4/25/2021 6:55:50 PMJohn Smith johns 4/20/2021 1:08:57 PMGet AdUser Manager Name
To get aduser manager name in an active directory, run the following command
get-aduser -Identity chrisd -Properties * | select SAMAccountname, @{Name='Manager';Expression={(Get-ADUser ($_.Manager)).SAMAccountname}}In the above PowerShell script, Get-AdUser gets user properties for the user using the identity parameter and passes the output to the second command.
Second command select SAMAccountName of given active directory user and use the expression to get manager name using Manager attribute.
The output of the above Get-AdUser Manager name as below
SAMAccountname Manager-------------- -------chrisd tomsGet-Aduser AccountExpirationDate
You can use AccountExpirationDate to get aduser account expiration date.
Get-ADUser -filter * -properties AccountExpirationDate | sort Name | ft Name,AccountExpirationDate
In the above PowerShell script, Get-AdUser gets a list of all users.
It retrieves the AccountExpirationDate property and passes the output to the second command.
Second command sort user by Name and print it on the console.
Name AccountExpirationDate---- ---------------------Chris Dore 8/1/2021 12:00:00 AMErick JonesGary WillyOther aduser doesn’t have an account expiration set hence they have an empty value.
Cool Tip: How to use remove-aduser to delete aduser in PowerShell!
Get AdUser BadPwdCount
Often aduser tried login into the system using the old password, which results in the account being locked out.
Active Directory user account has badpwdcount attribute which stores bad password attempts count.
By default, it has a 0 value. badpwdcount attribute increment value when a user attempts a bad password.
badpwdcount value reset to 0 on successful login.
To get aduser badpwdcount, use PowerShell script
Get-ADUser -Identity Toms -Properties * | Select-Object badpwdcount
It gets the user specified using the identity parameter and returns the user account badpwdcount
Get AdUser Manager SamAccountName
Using the Get-AdUser, you can get aduser manager samaccountname.
The user has a manager attribute which contains a manager distinguished name.
To get aduser manager samaccountname for the user, run the following script
$user = "garyw"$Manager = get-aduser $user -properties * | Select -ExpandProperty Managerget-aduser $Manager -properties * | Select SamAccountName,DisplayName
In the above PowerShell script to get aduser garyw manager samaccountname,
$user variable stores user name.
The second command uses the Get-AdUser command to get aduser all properties. It selects a manager and stores them in $Manager variable.
The third command again uses the Get-AdUser to get aduser manager samaccountname and manager display name.
Conclusion
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.
You can get the default set of aduser properties. To get additional properties, use the Property parameter.
You can use filter or Ldapfilter parameter to search for one or more ad users from the active directory using PowerShell expression language.
You can find more topics about PowerShell Active Directory commands and PowerShell basics on the ShellGeek home page.
Recommended Content
Get AdUser All Properties – Get all of the properties for the aduser in PowerShell.
Get AdUsers Enabled – Get Adusers enabled in the Active Directory.
Get-AdUser Email Address
Get AdUser LDAP FIlter – Get active directory users using LDAP Filter
Get AdUsers Exclude OU – Get AdUsers and exclude specific OU.
Get AdUser Description – Get AdUser description from the active directory.
Get AdUser DistinguishedName – Get AdUser distinguished name from the active directory.
Convert SID to UserName – Get user name from SID using PowerShell and Command line
Get AdUser Multiple Users – Get Multiple User Properties in Active Directory
Get AdUser Format Table – Format the list of adusers in table output.
Get AdUser Filter with Multiple Attributes – Get a list of adusers filter with multiple attributes.
Get AdUser Sort by SAMAccountname
Get AdUser pipe to Add-AdGroupMember – Get aduser and add a user to ad group as member.
Get AdUser Count – Get active directory user count, active user count, enabled user count
FAQs
How to get list of users in Active Directory using PowerShell? ›
To get the domain user list, you can use the Get-ADUser command. To run this command you need to make sure that you have the RSAT (Remote Server Administration Tools) installed on the computer. The above command will get all users from the active directory domain.
How can I get a list of active users in AD? ›Searching for Active Directory user accounts in ADUC
Click Find Now and then sort the 'Type' column until 'User' is displayed. You will then see all your true user accounts.
...
Here are the steps to export Active Directory users to CSV.
- Step 1: Get-ADUser PowerShell Command. ...
- Step 2: Export to CSV command. ...
- Step 3: Export specific user attributes.
Open Computer Management, and go to “Local Users and Groups -> Users.” On the right side, you get to see all the user accounts, their names as used by Windows behind the scenes, their full names (or the display names), and, in some cases, also a description.
How do I get a list of members of a distribution list in PowerShell? ›Use the Get-DistributionGroupMember cmdlet to view the members of distribution groups and mail-enabled security groups.
How do I download RSAT from PowerShell? ›- Type Start PowerShell in the Command Prompt window to start Windows PowerShell.
- Type Install-WindowsFeature RSAT and press Enter to install RSAT.
The cmdlet you need for that is Get-AzureADUserManager. OfficeLocation is exposed via PowerShell as PhysicalDeliveryOfficeName.
How do I export and import users from Active Directory? ›- In the C2 Identity Admin Portal, go to the User page.
- Click Add > Import users/groups > From Active Directory.
- Click Download and move the export tool to your desired location.
- Launch the export tool. ...
- Open the CSV file and check its format:
- In the Admin Console, go to Directory > Directory Integrations.
- Click Active Directory and then click the Assignments tab.
- Optional. To view only the people or groups associated with an Active Directory (AD) instance, click People or Groups in the Filters list.
List Users with cat Command. The cat command provides a straightforward way to list the contents of the /etc/passwd file. The system outputs the entire file with all the users on the system.
Which command is used to get all users? ›
Users command is used to print the user name who are all currently logged in the current host.
How to get domain user details in cmd? ›Open the Start menu, then type cmd in the Search box and press Enter. In the command line window that appears, type set user and press Enter. Look at the USERDOMAIN: entry.
How do I extract users from ad group? ›- Step 1: Load the Active Directory Module. ...
- Step 2: Find AD Group. ...
- Step 3: Use Get-AdGroupMember to list group members. ...
- Step 4: Export group members to CSV file.
- Under the “Users” tab, search and find the user you are interested in.
- Click on the user name to open user properties >> In the user properties pane, click on “Manage groups” under “Groups”.
- This gets you all Office 365 groups a user is a member of.
- Click the "Contacts" option in Outlook to see your list of contacts.
- Scroll to the distribution list you want to print and right-click the name of the group.
- Click "Quick Print" to print the list.
To install Active Directory Users and Computers on Windows 10 and Windows 11, open the Settings app and go into Apps. From there, add the 'RSAT: Active Directory Domain Services and Lightweight Directory Services Tools' optional feature.
How to Install Active Directory Users and Computers with PowerShell? ›- Click Start -> Settings -> Apps.
- In the Apps & Features window, click Optional Features.
- Click on Add a Feature and select RSAT: Active Directory Domain Services and Lightweight Directory Services Tools from the options.
- Select Install.
To find local administrators with PowerShell you can use the Get-LocalGroupMember command. The above example is running the command on the local computer. To run on a remote computer you can use the invoke-command. For this command to work you will need to have PowerShell Remoting enabled.
How do I get Azure AD group members in PowerShell? ›To get a group, specify the Id parameter. Specify the SearchString or Filter parameter to find particular groups. If you specify no parameters, this cmdlet gets all groups. The Get-AzureADGroupMember cmdlet gets a member of a group in Azure Active Directory (AD).
How do I get an Azure AD user? ›- Filter – Retrieve multiple objects based on a oDate v3 query.
- ObjectId – Return specific user based on UPN or ObjectID.
- SearchString – Get all users that match the searchString.
- All – Retrieve all results.
- Top – Retrieve only specified amount.
How do I export a list of users from Active Directory group? ›
- Step 1: Load the Active Directory Module. ...
- Step 2: Find AD Group. ...
- Step 3: Use Get-AdGroupMember to list group members. ...
- Step 4: Export group members to CSV file.
All you need to do is open ADUC, navigate to your desired OU, and click the Export List button. This will export all of the accounts in the OU to a tab delimited text file.
How do I export DL members to excel using PowerShell? ›...
Replies (3)
- Connected to Exchange online PowerShell.
- Run the command: Import-Csv -Path "C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\Example01.csv" | ForEach-Object {New-DistributionGroup -Name $_.Name -DisplayName $_.DisplayName -Alias $_.Alias}