Introduction
If you’d like to automate creating users in your Active Directory, one of the best ways to do it is to use Powershell and a CSV. In this post I will show you how to bulk create AD users with Powershell from a CSV file.
Summary: Learn how to use Windows PowerShell to read a CSV file and to create new user accounts in Active Directory. Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here. Once again we return to Windows PowerShell Blueville with guest blogger Sean Kearney. Summary: Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, talks about using Windows PowerShell to read a CSV file and create users in Active Directory. Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here. Yesterday in Oh No! Oh WaitPowerShell for the Win!, I created a CSV file from a Word document that I had been given.
For that we’ll need two things:
- a CSV file, pre-formatted with the required fields
- a Powershell script.
Both the files I’ll be using here, you can find them at the end of this post.
![Create Users Active Directory Csv File Power Shell Scripting Create Users Active Directory Csv File Power Shell Scripting](/uploads/1/2/5/7/125715185/372919509.png)
So, let’s…
Create AD Users with Powershell from a CSV
First off, open the CSV file. It looks like this:
Note that the fields are separated by a “;” because the AD DN (Distinguished Name) is separated by commas. Each line ends with a “;” for a simple reason: it is the “Description” field and I didn’t add any description for any of the users. Also note also that in all rows I have two “;” followed. That’s where you insert the user’s last name. Since mine have none, I’ll leave it blank.
Change the CSV to meet your needs and open up the script in the PowerShell ISE, like shown below:
Change the path to match the path where you have saved your CSV file and run it!
The output will be as follow:
Actually, even if the users are not created successfully, the script will always output that the users are created because it has no error control whatsoever. I did it just not to have a blank screen after the script has finished. If you get errors, you’ll have some pretty red lines showing up ?
So, we have our users in AD:
The files used are:
NewUsers.CSV and CreateUsersAD_CSV.ps1 (this one is a text file. Rename it to .ps1)
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Thank you for reading!