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Tag Archives: Active Directory

Inventory for Hardware: Part 2 – Find Serial Numbers in Active Directory

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Now that Active Directory can tell us what computer models we have (and how many we own), it is time to extend our inventory! Today, we are going to implement one shutdown that script with Group Policy. This script will query for our computer’s serial number (or service tag) and will also grab the unique ID associated with an attached monitor. It will then store both pieces of information in that computer’s Active Directory account. As a final result, you can look at any computer in your domain and see the information in the Description field. This makes it incredibly easy to find serial numbers in Active Directory!

Find Serial Numbers in Active Directory

So if you are tired of manually doing an inventory, let’s automate some stuff!

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Active Directory Inventory for Hardware: Computer Make and Model

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At its core, Active Directory is a database designed to store a multitude of objects. Each of these objects have hundreds of attributes, or properties, attached to them. Some attributes are automatically filled when the object is created. For example, the displayName attribute will automatically have the name of the object in it. Other attributes, like the comment field or description are left blank. These blank comments allow you to easily extend the database scope to your own nefarious purposes! Active Directory Inventory for Hardware With a few scripts, you can setup Active Directory Inventory for Hardware. With PowerShell, you can then query or manipulate this data in nearly anyway! Continue reading →

3 Changes to Active Directory Users and Computers

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It is fast becoming common knowledge that Microsoft will not be making one size fits all tools anymore. Instead, they will provide the basic tools and PowerShell support to automate/extend specific tasks. For proof of this, look no further than Office 365 or any other hosted Microsoft Service. But this change is good! IT Administrators can extend their tools to their environment. While Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) is an older tool, you should still modify it to fit your organization. Today, we will cover 3 changes you should make.

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Gathering Active Directory Mobile Phone Attributes

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“How can I get import numbers into the Active Directory mobile phone attribute?” That was the most common question to the Reset User Password with Self Service blog post. While it would be easy to do this with a massive CSV, that method still means you (the IT Administrator) will have to maintain it.  Today, I have two automatic ways for you – both delegate the work to the end user and allow you to keep working on cooler things!

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Find Out What Computer a User Logged Into Automatically

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Stop asking “What Computer are You On”! Instead use Active Directory and Group Policy to search for you!  In this post, we are going to set Active Directory to automatically record where users login. And when a user calls, Active Directory Users and Computers will let us instantly remote into their computer and will find out what computer a user logged into. In short, you will be able to click on any computer in your domain and see the current logged in user. All within Active Directory Users and Computers!

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