Get-ADUser in PowerShell

Introduction

The Get-ADUser command helps you find and see information about users in your Active Directory. It makes it easy to get details about people in your network.

You want to check details of a specific user in your company network.

You need to list all users in a certain department or group.

You want to find users who have not logged in recently.

You need to export user information for reports or audits.

Syntax

PowerShell

Get-ADUser [-Identity] <User> [-Properties <String[]>] [-Filter <String>] [-SearchBase <String>] [-SearchScope <String>] [-Server <String>] [-Credential <PSCredential>] [-ResultSetSize <Int>] [-SortBy <String>] [-WhatIf] [-Confirm] [<CommonParameters>]

-Identity is used to specify a single user by name, username, or distinguished name.

-Filter lets you search for users matching conditions, like all users in a city.

Examples

Gets the user with username 'jdoe'.

PowerShell

Get-ADUser -Identity "jdoe"

Finds all users whose name contains 'Smith'.

PowerShell

Get-ADUser -Filter "Name -like '*Smith*'"

Gets all users and shows their email addresses.

PowerShell

Get-ADUser -Filter * -Properties EmailAddress

Sample Program

This script loads the Active Directory module, gets the user named 'alice', and prints her name, email, and department.

PowerShell

Import-Module ActiveDirectory

# Get user with username 'alice'
$user = Get-ADUser -Identity alice -Properties EmailAddress, Department

Write-Output "User: $($user.Name)"
Write-Output "Email: $($user.EmailAddress)"
Write-Output "Department: $($user.Department)"

Important Notes

You need to run this command on a computer joined to the Active Directory domain.

Make sure you have permission to read user information in Active Directory.

Use -Properties to get extra details, otherwise only basic info is returned.

Summary

Get-ADUser helps you find and view user info in Active Directory.

Use -Identity for one user or -Filter to search many users.

Remember to add -Properties to see more details about users.