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Troubleshooting the “Object Is Required” Error Hey, Scripting Guy! I am having a problem with my script. It keeps coming back and saying that an object is required. Why does it do that? - KA Hi KA, "Object required" is very generic. It means that (wait for it) an object is required. It...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I get a list of all the computers in my domain, grouping those computers by the OU in which the computer account resides? -- TA Hey, TA. Well, today is Monday, and the Scripting Guy who writes this column is actually glad it’s Monday. Not that he’s all that excited about...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I manage over 300 servers in our environment. For each server I need to determine the members of the local Administrators account. It’s easy to get a list of local users and domain users that belong to the Admin account; it’s also easy to get a list of any domain groups that belong...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We’re trying to straighten out our Active Directory, and in order to do so, I’ve been asked to come up with a list of all the groups that have just 1 member or fewer. How can I write a script that will return this information for me? -- DR Hey, DR. Before we answer...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I need to get a list of all the users in an OU and its subOUs, then change their email addresses so those addresses only user lowercase letters. How can I do that? -- TB Hey, TB. You know, we had to think twice before going ahead and answering this question. That’s not because...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have an HTA that searches Active Directory for user accounts and then displays those user names. We have 10 OUs in Active Directory, but I only want to retrieve the users from three of those OUs. How do I do that? -- DP Hey, DP. Here’s a little secret for you: it’s very easy...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine the home directory for all the disabled user accounts in Active Directory? -- DB Hey, DB. You know, it’s not like the Scripting Guy who writes this column is addicted to TV or anything, but last night he was watching TV (as usual) when he saw a brief feature...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I take user names from an Excel spreadsheet, search for those users in Active Directory, and then indicate whether or not each user was found? -- SD Hey, SD. You know, one of the drawbacks to writing a daily scripting column is that people never seem to believe you. For...

Hey, Scripting Guy! As part of our Sarbanes-Oxley requirements I need to get a list of all my Active Directory users, along with the date that their account was created and the last time their password was changed. How can I get a list like that? -- DB Hey, DB. You know, this past weekend the Scripting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I move a computer from an unknown OU into a known OU? -- DB Hey, DB. You know, a lot of people take a look at system administration scripting and think, “Well, it might be useful, but it sounds kind of boring.” After all, clearing event logs and changing user passwords...

Hey, Scripting Guy! For purposes of testing, I often need to create multiple user accounts like this: pgeorge01, pgeorge02, etc. How can I write a script that automatically creates the next account in the sequence; that is, pgeorge03? -- RG Hey, RG. You know, after our last experiment went horribly...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I get a list of all the users who have an alternate recipient (altRecipient)? -- SA Hey, SA. You know, one of the great things about being a Scripting Guy is that we don’t ever have to know what we’re talking about; all we do have to know is how to write a script that does...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I count the number of computers in a domain? -- TN Hey, TN. Here’s a true story for you. About 5 years ago, when one of the Scripting Guys first started at Microsoft, his group here (which might not be the most technically-savvy group at the company) needed to get a count...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I get a list of all the objects that have been added to Active Directory since a specified date? -- KR Hey, KR. First of all we’d like to apologize if our answer here is still a little soggy. No doubt you’ve seen cartoons where someone receives a package in the mail, they...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I add a user to a group, but only if that user is a member of the IT department? -- JV Hey, JV. You know, this is your lucky day: not only are we going to show you how you can add a specified user to a group (assuming, of course, that this user is a member of the IT department...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I list all the sub-OUs in an OU? That includes any OUs that might be in those sub-OUs. -- JE Hey, JE. If you’re the least bit familiar with this column then you know that we Scripting Guys love to answer questions that involve searching Active Directory. That’s because...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I use alternate credentials when searching Active Directory? -- PT Hey, PT. So what’s the big idea here? Devoted readers of this column (both of them) know that we usually love tackling questions where the answer involves searching Active Directory. Why? That’s...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I use wildcards to get a list of all the groups whose name starts with G-S-Group? -- JD Hey, JD. It’s the day before Thanksgiving, and one of the Scripting Guys is headed out of town as soon as he finishes his Hey, Scripting Guy! column. And what a coincidence...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine the user logon name for a user named John Smith? -- FR Hey, FR. You know, we’d like to tell you how to determine the user logon name for a user named John Smith, but we can’t: that’s because we have a specific list of names representing the only user names we...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I find out which attributes are replicated to the global catalog? -- AS Hey, AS. When people envision the future, they often foresee enormous skyscrapers, buildings so large that you might live your whole life without ever leaving them: you’ll live there, work there, go...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have a number of OUs in our domain that have the word Servers in the OU name. How can I retrieve a list of those OUs? -- AM Hey, AM. One of the Scripting Guys has a 15-year-old son who, whenever he hears his father tell a story about the good old days, rolls his eyes and says...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I get a list of all the disabled user accounts in Active Directory? -- RT Hey, RT. Now, just remember, you asked for this. We have a script that returns a list of disabled user accounts in Active Directory; the only problem is that part of the script is a little cryptic...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I display a multi-valued attribute that I get back when using ADO to search Active Directory? -- ES Hey, ES. For the most part Active Directory is a script writer’s paradise; with very few exceptions anything you can do using the Active Directory snap-ins and GUI tools...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I gather the names of all the computers in my domain that are running Windows Server 2003? -- AS Hey, AS. When we choose questions to answer for this column, we try to take questions from different areas of scripting. That does two things for us: it keeps us from being...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I need to get back a list of all the computers in my domain, except for the computers which are in our Test Lab OU. How do I do that? -- AM Hey, AM. This seems to be one of the hot new trends in the IT world: in the past two weeks we’ve gotten three similar emails, all involving...