For years I’ve had a AD user import VBS script as part of my toolkit, I thought it was about time to update it to PowerShell as well as add a few new features.

This utility is available to download from the Microsoft TechNet Gallery and GitHub.

-Mike

Twitter – @Digressive

 

Features and Requirements

This utility will create Active Directory user accounts based on information provided in a CSV file. All other options are added via command line switches. Options include:

• Organisation Unit in which to create the users.
• The UPN that user accounts should have.
• Home Drive location.
• Home Drive Letter.
• Membership of an Active Directory Group.
• Account Expiry Date.

This utility has been tested running on Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2012 R2 Domain Controller’s and on a Windows 10 client. This utility requires the Active Directory PowerShell modules to be installed.

 

The -file Parameter

When running the script via Schedule Tasks or the command prompt be sure to use the -file parameter before specifying the script, so you can use “double quotes” for the command line switches that need them, if you do not use -file, then you should use ‘single quotes’.

 

CSV File Formatting

The first line of the CSV file should be the column names so the script (and you) know what each column is for.

The structure of the CSV file is as follows:

Firstname,Lastname,SAM,Password
Joe,Bloggs,jbloggs,P@ssw0rd1
Jane,Bloggs,janeb,P@ssw0rd2

 

Generating A Password File

The password used for SMTP server authentication must be in an encrypted text file. To generate the password file, run the following command in PowerShell, on the computer that is going to run the script and logged in with the user that will be running the script. When you run the command you will be prompted for a username and password. Enter the username and password you want to use to authenticate to your SMTP server.

Please note: This is only required if you need to authenticate to the SMTP server when send the log via e-mail.

$creds = Get-Credential
$creds.Password | ConvertFrom-SecureString | Set-Content c:\scripts\ps-script-pwd.txt

After running the commands, you will have a text file containing the encrypted password. When configuring the -Pwd switch enter the path and file name of this file.

 

Configuration

The table below shows all the command line options available with descriptions and example configurations.

Command Line Switch	Mandatory	Description	Example
-Csv	Yes	Location and name of the CSV file containing the user accounts to be created.	C:\foo\new-users.csv
-Ou	Yes	Enter the DN (Distinguished Name) of the OU that you wish to put the new users in. The DN must be surrounded by “double quotes.”	“ou=Imported_Accounts,dc=contoso,dc=com”
-Upn	Yes	Enter the string you wish to use for the users UPN.	contoso.com
-HomeLetter	No*	Enter the drive letter to use for the Home Drive. *This setting must be set along with the -homepath.	H:
-HomePath	No*	Enter the UNC path to use for the location of the home drive. The users folder will be created automatically. *This setting must be set along with the -homeletter.	\\server\share
-Group	No	Enter the DN (Distinguished Name) of a group that the users should be added to, if required.	“cn=Marketing,ou=UserGroups,dc=contoso,dc=com”
-Expire	No	Enter the date the accounts should expire if required. The date format should be the same as the local systems format.	31/12/2018
-L	No	Location to store the optional log file. The name of the log file is automatically generated.	C:\foo
-SendTo	No	The email address to send the log file to.	me@contoso.com
-From	No*	The email address that the log file should be sent from. *This switch isn’t mandatory but is required if you wish to email the log file.	example@contoso.com
-Smtp	No*	SMTP server address to use for the email functionality. *This switch isn’t mandatory but is required if you wish to email the log file.	mail01.contoso.com OR smtp.live.com OR smtp.office365.com
-User	No*	The username of the account to use for SMTP authentication. *This switch isn’t mandatory but may be required depending on the configuration of the SMTP server.	example@contoso.com
-Pwd	No*	The location of the file containing the encrypted password of the account to use for SMTP authentication. *This switch isn’t mandatory but may be required depending on your SMTP server.	c:\foo\ps-script-pwd.txt
-UseSsl	No*	Add this option if you wish to use SSL with the configured SMTP server. Tip: If you wish to send email to outlook.com or office365.com you will need this. *This switch isn’t mandatory but may be required depending on the configuration of the SMTP server.	N/A

 

Change Log

2017-10-16 1.5

• Changed SMTP authentication to require an encrypted password file.
• Added instructions on how to generate an encrypted password file.

2017-10-07 1.4

• Added necessary information to add the script to the PowerShell Gallery.

2017-09-13 1.3

• Added check for existence of user before attempting to create user.
• Improved logging to handle the above change.

2017-07-22 1.2

• Improved code commenting for documentation purposes.
• Added authentication and SSL options for e-mail notification.

 

PowerShell Code

<#PSScriptInfo .VERSION 1.5 .GUID eaaca86c-2a1f-4caf-b2f9-05868186d162 .AUTHOR Mike Galvin twitter.com/digressive .COMPANYNAME .COPYRIGHT (C) Mike Galvin. All rights reserved. .TAGS Active Directory User Creation CSV File Import .LICENSEURI .PROJECTURI https://gal.vin/2017/09/13/powershell-create-ad-users-from-csv/ .ICONURI .EXTERNALMODULEDEPENDENCIES Active Directory Management PowerShell module. .REQUIREDSCRIPTS .EXTERNALSCRIPTDEPENDENCIES .RELEASENOTES #>

<# .SYNOPSIS Creates Active Directory user accounts from a CSV file. .DESCRIPTION Creates Active Directory user accounts from a CSV file. This script will: Create users based on information provided by a CSV file. All other options are added via command line switches. The command line switches provide configuration for: Organisational Unit in which to create the users. The user's UPN. Home Drive location. Home Drive Letter. Membership of an Active Directory Group. Account Expiry Date. Please note: to send a log file using ssl and an SMTP password you must generate an encrypted password file. The password file is unique to both the user and machine. The command is as follows: $creds = Get-Credential $creds.Password | ConvertFrom-SecureString | Set-Content c:\foo\ps-script-pwd.txt .PARAMETER Csv The path and filename of the csv file containing the user information to create users from. .PARAMETER Ou The Organisational Unit to create the users in. .PARAMETER Upn The Universal Principal Name the users should be configured with. .PARAMETER HomeLetter The drive letter to use for the home drive path. .PARAMETER HomePath The path where the location of the home drive should reside. .PARAMETER Group The DN of a group that all the new users should be made a member of. .PARAMETER Expire The expiry date of the new users. .PARAMETER L The path to output the log file to. The file name will be AD-Account-Creation-YYYY-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss.log .PARAMETER SendTo The e-mail address the log should be sent to. .PARAMETER From The from address the log should be sent from. .PARAMETER Smtp The DNS or IP address of the SMTP server. .PARAMETER User The user account to connect to the SMTP server. .PARAMETER Pwd The password for the user account. .PARAMETER UseSsl Connect to the SMTP server using SSL. .EXAMPLE Create-Accounts-CSV.ps1 -Csv E:\foo\users.csv -Ou 'ou=Imported_Accounts,ou=MyUsers,dc=contoso,dc=com' -HomeLetter W: -HomePath \\filesrvr01\UserHomes -Group 'cn=All_Users,ou=Groups_Security,dc=contoso,dc=com' -Expire 31/07/2018 -Upn contoso.com -L E:\logs -SendTo me@contoso.com -From AD-Account-Creation@contoso.com -Mail exch01.contoso.com This will take information from the users.csv file and create the users in the Imported_Accounts OU. The users home drive will be mapped to W: and be located under \\filesrvr01\UserHomes. The users will be a memeber of the All_Users AD group, will expire 31/07/2018 and will have the UPN of contoso.com. The log will be output to E:\logs and e-mailed. #>

[CmdletBinding()]
Param(
    [parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
    [alias("Csv")]
    $UsersList,
    [parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
    [alias("Ou")]
    $OrganisationalUnit,
    [parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
    [alias("Upn")]
    $AdUpn,
    [alias("HomeLetter")]
    $HomeDrive,
    [alias("HomePath")]
    $HomeUnc,
    [alias("Group")]
    $AdGroup,
    [alias("Expire")]
    $AdExpire,
    [alias("L")]
    $LogPath,
    [alias("SendTo")]
    $MailTo,
    [alias("From")]
    $MailFrom,
    [alias("Smtp")]
    $SmtpServer,
    [alias("User")]
    $SmtpUser,
    [alias("Pwd")]
    $SmtpPwd,
    [switch]$UseSsl)

## If users list csv file exists then run the script
If (Test-Path $UsersList)
{

    ## If logging is configured, start log
    If ($LogPath)
    {
        $LogFile = ("AD-Account-Creation-{0:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss}.log" -f (Get-Date))
        $Log = "$LogPath\$LogFile"
    }

    If (Test-Path $UsersList)
    {
        ## Start Log
        If ($LogPath)
        {
            Start-Transcript $Log
        }
    }

    $UserCsv = Import-Csv -Path "$UsersList"

    ForEach ($User In $UserCsv)
    {
        $DisplayName = $User.Firstname + " " + $User.Lastname
        $UserFirstName = $User.Firstname
        $UserLastName = $User.Lastname
        $Sam = $User.SAM
        $Upn = $Sam + "@$AdUpn"
        $Description = $DisplayName
        $Password = $User.Password

        $UserExist = Get-ADUser -Filter "SamAccountName -eq '$Sam'"

        If ($UserExist -eq $null)
        {
            New-ADUser -Name $Sam -DisplayName "$DisplayName" -SamAccountName $Sam -UserPrincipalName $Upn -GivenName "$UserFirstName" -Surname "$UserLastName" -Description "$Description" -AccountPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString $Password -AsPlainText -Force) -Enabled $True -Path "$OrganisationalUnit" -ChangePasswordAtLogon $True –PasswordNeverExpires $False -AccountExpirationDate $AdExpire -Verbose
        
            If ($HomeDrive)
            {
                Set-ADUser $Sam -HomeDirectory $HomeUnc\$Sam -HomeDrive $HomeDrive -Verbose
            }

            If ($AdGroup)
            {
                Add-ADGroupMember "$AdGroup" $Sam -Verbose
            }
        }

        Else
        {
            Write-Host "User with SAM:$Sam already exists"
        }
    }

    ## If log was configured stop the log
    If ($LogPath)
    {
        Stop-Transcript

        ## If email was configured, set the variables for the email subject and body
        If ($SmtpServer)
        {
            $MailSubject = "AD Account Creation Log"
            $MailBody = Get-Content -Path $Log | Out-String

            ## If an email password was configured, create a variable with the username and password
            If ($SmtpPwd)
            {
                $SmtpPwdEncrypt = Get-Content $SmtpPwd | ConvertTo-SecureString
                $SmtpCreds = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList ($SmtpUser, $SmtpPwdEncrypt)

                ## If ssl was configured, send the email with ssl
                If ($UseSsl)
                {
                    Send-MailMessage -To $MailTo -From $MailFrom -Subject $MailSubject -Body $MailBody -SmtpServer $SmtpServer -UseSsl -Credential $SmtpCreds
                }

                ## If ssl wasn't configured, send the email without ssl
                Else
                {
                    Send-MailMessage -To $MailTo -From $MailFrom -Subject $MailSubject -Body $MailBody -SmtpServer $SmtpServer -Credential $SmtpCreds
                }
            }

            ## If an email username and password were not configured, send the email without authentication
            Else
            {
                Send-MailMessage -To $MailTo -From $MailFrom -Subject $MailSubject -Body $MailBody -SmtpServer $SmtpServer
            }
        }
    }
}

Else
{
    Write-Host ""
    Write-Host "There's no user list to work with."
    Write-Host ""
}

## End