Microsoft Virtual Academy: Using PowerShell for Active Directory

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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

Comments

  • Anonymous
    October 29, 2014
    Awesome!
  • Anonymous
    October 29, 2014
    Thanks for sharing nice PS Scripts....
  • Anonymous
    October 29, 2014
    Hi Ashley,
    On the live MVA presentation -- thanks for all the work to put this together. I've been to too many PowerShell User group meetings where all the tabs worth of PowerShell scripts using during demos, etc are never provided and prevents doing a deep dive in to how the scripts work after leaving the presentation.

    Great job. Great examples
  • Anonymous
    October 29, 2014
    Many thanks for your live video and many PS scripts and your explanation !!
    great job !
  • Anonymous
    October 29, 2014
    Lots of great information. Thanks for sharing. looking forward to the other 4 modules coming out.
  • Anonymous
    October 29, 2014
    Very good Stuff-very useful- Thanks a Ton.
  • Anonymous
    October 31, 2014
    Great Event, and funtastic staff you are sharing. Thanks.
  • Anonymous
    November 01, 2014
    Hi
    I had registered to watch the presentation live on the 29th,but unfortunately i missed to watch the show. So is there any change that this presentation can be found on the Microsoft website?

    Best regards,
    Thorkell
  • Anonymous
    November 14, 2014
    I cannot find the Videos or the bonus videos on the MVA site. Can I get the link to that please?
  • Anonymous
    November 22, 2014
    Great Staff !! Attributes Recovery and ADreplicationmetadata is awesome !

    Lots of great information. Thank you
  • Anonymous
    November 26, 2014
    Hello, everyone. Today I have a short post with some helpful links to share. If you are in the US, I
  • Anonymous
    December 01, 2014
    Top shelf ! Currently on module 3, most impressed with this course, one of the best.
  • Anonymous
    December 13, 2014
    Nice one guys!!!

    So helpful stuff.

    Thanks for sharing !
  • Anonymous
    December 19, 2014
    Really awsome and helpfull stuff, learned alot!
    Big thanks and Merry Christmas.
  • Anonymous
    December 23, 2014
    Guys,

    All I can say is wow! Thanks
  • Anonymous
    December 31, 2014
    Great information and well presented.
    True Legends
  • Anonymous
    January 06, 2015
    Great, very useful content, well chosen examples that directly translate to the workplace and presenters who are not only very knowledgeable but know how to present their information in a way that is entertaining and a joy to follow! Thanks for the course, please give us more like this!
  • Anonymous
    January 12, 2015
    By far, one of the most entertaining video trainings! Great chemistry! I enjoyed the forensics, it’s been a while since I needed to troubleshoot Active Directory. Thanks!!!
  • Anonymous
    January 30, 2015
    I´m in the middle of the MVA course and already overwhelmed. Remarkable content. Excellent job, sir!
  • Anonymous
    March 25, 2015
    Great video & bright insights into powershell
  • Anonymous
    April 16, 2015
    This is awesome! thanks for the great works!
  • Anonymous
    June 01, 2015
    Awesome! a big thank you! we need good stuff like this (y)
  • Anonymous
    September 14, 2015
    Thank you very much! :-)
  • Anonymous
    January 28, 2016
    Super this will push my interest in learning Powershell to manage AD...Many Thanks
  • Anonymous
    May 25, 2017
    One word to describe this - awesome!
  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2017
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    November 10, 2018
    Stumbled on all this - simply awesome. The most valuable such I have seen, and for free ? It's amazing. Thank you guys so much. I'm trying to get facile with PS, and the AD focus gives concrete motivation.
  • Anonymous
    December 03, 2018
    (The content was deleted per user request)
  • Anonymous
    December 31, 2018
    This is Awesome!! Thanks for sharing the script files.