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Accepted
Patrick
Asked: 2011-05-26 10:09:02 +0800 CST

Active Directory Bulk Group Edit

  • 772

Is there a way to update the "Managed By" field for every group in Active Directory? I would also need to check "Manager can update membership list" also.

active-directory bulk-action groups

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    This can be done through PowerShell

    $DNOfManager=dsquery user -o dn -name "Testing Tester"
$GroupList=dsquery group DC=ad,dc=example,dc=local -limit 600 
Foreach ($group in $grouplist) {
    set-adgroup -Identity $Group -ManagedBy $DNOfManager
    add-adpermission -Identity $Group -user $DNOfManager -AccessRights ReadProperty, WriteProperty -Properties 'Member'
}

    This is undebugged, but should get you most of the way there. What it does:

    1. Uses dsquery to grab the Distinguished Name of the user with the full-name of "Testing Tester".
    2. Uses dsquery to fetch a list of candidate groups, and passes that to a variable as a list.
    3. Iterate through the list. On each list-member:
      1. Assign the ManagedBy attribute
      2. Assign the rights to update the Member attribute

    So long as $DNOfManager is set right, this should set all groups in the domain to be managed by that one manager. ALL of them. Make sure the query in step one is defined right and doesn't pick up groups you don't want (Domain Admins?).

    • 8

  2. Looks like Active Directory is scriptable...link

    You could do some research there and figure out how to script modifications. I would definitely recommend creating yourself a sandbox so you're not experimenting with scripts against your live Active Directory setup, though. I've learned this the hard way before; if you're experimenting with new stuff, don't do it with any data or setup you would be sad to see blown away.

    • 1

  3. Unfortunately there is no "bulk" way to select 'managed by' for all groups within a directory. You will have to select each individual group to change the managed by field.

    My apologies gentlemen. I jumped to conclusions based on the interface of active directory alone. The idea of scripting escaped me. I also apologize for the use of the word "bulk." Quite frankly the site is new to me so I apologize for the lack and consideration of expertise on the topic expressed.

    • -1