Bulk Create Active Directory Users v1.6

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.

I take great care to test my ideas and make sure my articles are accurate before posting, however mistakes do slip through sometimes. If you’d like to get in touch with me please use the comments, Twitter (you can tweet me and my DMs are open) or my contact form.

I hope this article helps you out, please consider supporting my work here. Thank you.

-Mike

 

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
-Subject	No	The subject line that the email should have. Encapsulate with single or double quotes.	‘Server: Notification’
-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

2019-09-04 v1.6

• Added custom subject line for e-mail.

2017-10-16 v1.5

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

2017-10-07 v1.4

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

2017-09-13 v1.3

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

2017-07-22 v1.2

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