Microsoft Virtual Academy: Using PowerShell for Active Directory

Welcome! Today’s post includes demo scripts and links from the Microsoft Virtual Academy series: Using PowerShell for Active Directory . Go watch the videos here. We had a great time creating this for you, and I hope you will share it with anyone needing to ramp up their AD PowerShell skills. I really enjoyed working with PowerShell MVP Jason Helmick, who co-hosted the live event.

I built extra secret demos that you have never seen before on my blog or at any conference presentations I have given to date. I guarantee everyone from beginners to seasoned scripters will pick up new techniques in this free training. Getting ready for the broadcast

Microsoft Virtual Academy: Using PowerShell for Active Directory

This is exciting! After four years of blogging about Active Directory PowerShell I finally get to show you all my tricks in one day of free video training. Here are the AD PowerShell topics:

Live Jumpstart
  • Introduction
  • Users and Groups
  • Queries
  • Forensics
Bonus Content
  • Stale Objects
  • Replication
  • Recovery
  • Deployment

We offered the first four modules as a half-day live jumpstart event, and you can stream those afterward. Then we offered four bonus modules to stream for even more great content you need to do your job, and those will be available the following week.

Active Directory PowerShell Help Files

As I mentioned on the videos “we” made a boo boo with the PowerShell about help topics for Active Directory. Somehow these files went missing when we moved to updateable help with Windows 8 / Windows Server 2012. You can get them online at TechNet here:

  • about_ActiveDirectory
  • about_ActiveDirectory_Filter
  • about_ActiveDirectory_Identity
  • about_ActiveDirectory_ObjectModel

If you will take 5 minutes to read these about help topics it will save you tons of time as you script against Active Directory.

Edit: They are back! Run this command from an elevated PowerShell console:

 PS C:\> Update-Help -Module ActiveDirectory -Verbose

Demo Scripts Download

Attached at the bottom of this post you will find all the demo scripts from the video. There are even more demos here that we did not have time to cover. This is essentially an anthology of Active Directory PowerShell functional code to jumpstart your own script library. Most of this code is read-only from an AD perspective, but some of it will make changes to your environment. Put this in a safe place for future reference, and always test your scripts in a lab before running them in production.

As bonus links I went through four years of blog posts and categorized them by the modules in the video series. Use these links for a deeper dive on some of the topics presented in each of the modules.

Module 1 - Introduction

Step-by-Step: How to use Active Directory PowerShell cmdlets against 2003 domain control ... Everything you need to get started with Active Directory Five free ways to script Active Directory in PowerShell: Part 1 Five free ways to script Active Directory in PowerShell: Part 2 DogfoodCon 2012 - Columbus, Ohio Free Download: CMD to PowerShell Guide for AD How To Use The 2012 Active Directory PowerShell Cmdlets From Windows 7 PowerShell Saturday 005 Atlanta: It's Time To Part With Blankie: Moving from command lin ...

Module 2 - Users and Groups

How to close helpdesk tickets faster with PowerShell PowerShell Tip: Active Directory Account Unlock Shortcut for Help Desk How to copy AD user attributes to another field with PowerShell AD PowerShell Password Reset Shortcut for Helpdesk TIP: 2 Ways userAccountControl Is Easier In AD PowerShell

Module 3 - Queries

Rip off the bandaid with PowerShell (Using bitwise LDAP filters to search and destroy ma ... How to find AD schema update history using PowerShell PowerShell Active Directory Schema Report Back To The Future: Working with date data types in Active Directory PowerShell Use PowerShell to Find Windows XP Computers Still Alive in Your Active Directory Domain

Module 4 - Forensics

AD Group History Mystery: PowerShell v3 REPADMIN Active Directory OU Permissions Report: Free PowerShell Script Download PowerShell Get-WinEvent XML Madness: Getting details from event logs

Module 5 - Stale Objects

Using PowerShell to Find Stale and Duplicate Active Directory Groups PowerShell to Find Where Your Active Directory Groups Are Used On File Shares

Module 6 - Replication

PowerShell to automatically create all AD hub-to-spoke site links Consolidate All AD Empty Sites Into A Single SiteLink Using PowerShell Report and Edit AD Site Links From PowerShell (Turbo Your AD Replication) New Microsoft Download: Active Directory Replication Status Tool Freaky neat Active Directory site links with PowerShell

Module 7 - Recovery

Oh Snap! Active Directory Attribute Recovery With PowerShell

Module 8 - Deployment

Touch-Free PowerShell DCPROMO in Windows Server 2012

Premier Services

I am not in sales, but I know some of you will ask about services. If you would like more information about Microsoft Premier PowerShell training (on-site, remote, or streaming video) use the links below under “Can you help me?”

Thank You

Thank you for watching the MVA videos today. It was a lot of fun, and I hope you can now safely and swiftly automate your Active Directory tasks. Remember to always test your scripts in a lab first. Use the –WhatIf and –Confirm switches if you are unsure of the impact. Remember that you can watch the videos over and over as many times as you like. Happy scripting!

MVAPSAD.zip