Importing CSV Users with a PowerShell Script

Question

My aim is to import users in a CSV file to Active Directory via a simple PowerShell Script. Despite this I'm encountering a syntax error as seen below.

Updated: CSV Column Format

name,surname,ou
Steven,Boone,Management
Rodney,Fisher,Sales
Taylor,Bautista,Management
Nathan,Morris,Management

Working and Solved: PowerShell Code

Import-Module ActiveDirectory
$ADDSUsers = Import-Csv C:\0469697M_gxt.csv

foreach ($user in $ADDSUsers) {
     $Name = $user.name + " " + $user.surname
     $OU = $user.ou
     $OUPath = "OU=$($OU),dc=intgxt,dc=allaboutfood,dc=com,dc=mt"

     #Creating New AD Users                   
     New-ADUser -Name $Name -Path $OUPath
}   

The error

New-ADUser : The object name has bad syntax
At C:\Script.ps1:9 char:5
+     New-ADUser -Name "$name" -Path "$OU"
+     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (CN=Tyler Blair,Management:String) [New-ADUser], ADException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId :ActiveDirectoryServer:8335,Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.Commands.NewADUser

Not sure where I have an error. As far as I'm concerned the columns are being parsed well.

Answer 1

IMO, the piece that isn't working is the -Path variable you're supplying. You need to provide the DN (distinguishedName) of a path in active directory. Simplest way to do this is grab the DN of a user and get the parent container DN.

Something like this:

-Path 'OU=New User Accounts,OU=Users,DC=compost,DC=is,DC=smelly,DC=com'

Also, I'd advise you to get used to delimiting strings the same way every time and stick with it. Single and double quotes act differently. You don't have to delimit field names from your source .csv unless there are white spaces.

If you're using separate containers, just construct the parent path of the new user object on they fly.

$OU

A working example of that might be:

Start

    Import-Module ActiveDirectory
    $ADDSUsers = Import-Csv C:\0469697M_gxt.csv
    $Creation_PW = Read-Host -AsSecureString -Prompt "Choose a password"
    foreach ($user in $ADDSUsers) {
    $Container = "OU=$($OU),OU=Users,DC=contoso,DC=com"
    $FirstName = $user.name
    $LastName = $user.surname
    $Account_Name = "$($FirstName) $($LastName)"
    New-ADUser -ChangePasswordAtLogon $true -Enabled $true -Path $Container -GivenName $FirstName -Surname $LastName -Name $Account_Name Description $Description -AccountPassword $Creation_PW }

End

($Creation_PW should be a SecureString)

I pulled sections from a mass account creation script that I use for my organization. We do them on occasion. You can specify all sorts of attributes upon creation, depending upon your AD schema. I've left only the relevant pieces.

Hopefully, this helps

Answer 2

Thank guys I managed to perfect my script and got it all working.

How I resolved the issue

As said above, I had to use X.500 path format for the script to find where to enter the users. For people having the same issues as me, here is the link which helped me along with the above: https://serverfault.com/questions/581383/new-aduser-path-syntax

I also have to use -Name rather than -GivenName , and then append $user.name and $user.surname together so that the names in the OU display as Dave Smith for example. This varies depending on your requirements.

Also, $($OU) had to be declared so that the script knows the OU for each corresponding user. (Provided in the .csv)

How to enter the right path (X.500 Path Format)

For anyone encountering the issue and stumbles upon this post.

OU > Domain Name

Dots within Domain name are separated by dc= For example:

Admin Organizational Unit in Contoso.com Domain
$OUPath = "OU=Admin,dc=Contoso,dc=com"

HR Organizational Unit in MyOrganization.co.uk Domain
$OUPath = "OU=HR,dc=MyOrganization,dc=co,dc=uk"

Import Organizational Unit in .CSV File
$OUImport = $user.ou (or whatever your ou column name is)
$OUPath = "OU=($OUImport),dc=MyOrganization,dc=co,dc=uk"

The Code

Import-module activedirectory
$ADDSUsers = Import-csv C:\0469697M_gxt.csv

write-host "Start Process"
write-host "-------------------------------------"

ForEach ($user in $ADDSUsers){
    $Name = $user.name + " " + $user.surname
    $OU = $user.ou
    $OUPath = "OU=$($OU),dc=intgxt,dc=allaboutfood,dc=com,dc=mt"

    #Creating New AD Users                   
    New-ADUser -Name $Name -Path $OUPath
}

---

Special thanks to (Dave)https://stackoverflow.com/users/9712731/dave and (EBGreen)https://stackoverflow.com/users/1358/ebgreen for their guidance.

Answer 3

Import-Module ActiveDirectory

Store the data from NewUserssent.csv in the $ADUsers variable

$ADUsers = Import-Csv C:\temp\newuserssent.csv -Delimiter ";"

Define UPN

$UPN = "bostonIT.int"

Loop through each row containing user details in the CSV file

foreach ($User in $ADUsers) {

#Read user data from each field in each row and assign the data to a variable as below
$username = $User.username
$password = $User.password
$firstname = $User.firstname
$lastname = $User.lastname
$initials = $User.initials
$OU = $User.ou #This field refers to the OU the user account is to be created in
$email = $User.email
$streetaddress = $User.streetaddress
$city = $User.city
$zipcode = $User.zipcode
$state = $User.state
$country = $User.country
$telephone = $User.telephone
$jobtitle = $User.jobtitle
$company = $User.company
$department = $User.department
$description= $user.description 

# Check to see if the user already exists in AD
if (Get-ADUser -F { SamAccountName -eq $username }) {
    
    # If user does exist, give a warning
    Write-Warning "A user account with username $username already exists in Active Directory."
}
else {

    # User does not exist then proceed to create the new user account
    # Account will be created in the OU provided by the $OU variable read from the CSV file
    New-ADUser `
        -SamAccountName $username `
        -Description $description `
        -UserPrincipalName "$username@$UPN" `
        -Name "$firstname $lastname" `
        -GivenName $firstname `
        -Surname $lastname `
        -Initials $initials `
        -Enabled $True `
        -DisplayName "$lastname, $firstname" `
        -Path $OU `
        -City $city `
        -PostalCode $zipcode `
        -Country $country `
        -Company $company `
        -State $state `
        -StreetAddress $streetaddress `
        -OfficePhone $telephone `
        -EmailAddress $email `
        -Title $jobtitle `
        -Department $department `
        -AccountPassword (ConvertTo-secureString $password -AsPlainText -Force) -ChangePasswordAtLogon $True

    # If user is created, show message.
    Write-Host "The user account $username is created." -ForegroundColor Green
}

}

Read-Host -Prompt "Press Enter to exit"