Managing user accounts and groups in Active Directory is a fundamental task for system administrators. Properly managing these accounts ensures efficient access control and security within an organization. Here, you'll learn how to create a user account and a group using the Active Directory Administrative Center (ADAC) and PowerShell:

Creating a User Account in ADAC:

1. Open the Active Directory Administrative Center (ADAC).

2. Right-click on the "Users" container and select "New" -> "User."

3. In the "New Object - User" dialog, fill in the required fields:

   • Full name: Enter the user's full name, e.g., "Kristi Johnson."

   • SAM account name (login name): This is the user's username, e.g., "kristi."

     SAM is a database in Windows that stores usernames and passwords

4. Set a password for the new user account:

   

   • Check the option "User must change password at next login."
   • Choose or generate a random password for the user.

5. Click "OK" to create the user account.

Creating a Group in ADAC:

1. In ADAC, right-click on the "Users" container or the desired location and select "New" -> "Group."

2. In the "New Object - Group" dialog, enter the following information:

   

   • Group name: Give the group a name, e.g., "Researchers."
   • SAM account name (login name): This field is automatically populated based on the group name.
   • Description: Provide a brief description of the group's purpose.

3. Click "OK" to create the group.

Viewing PowerShell Commands in ADAC:

• ADAC performs actions using PowerShell commands behind the scenes. You can view the PowerShell commands by expanding the "Windows PowerShell history" pane at the bottom of the ADAC console. This allows you to see the PowerShell code corresponding to actions taken in ADAC.

PowerShell for Creating a Group:

• You can create a group in PowerShell using the following command:

New-ADGroup -Name "Researchers" -SamAccountName "researchers" -Description "Group for research team"

This PowerShell command is equivalent to creating a group named "Researchers" with the SAM account name "researchers" and providing a description.

Understanding how to perform these tasks in both ADAC and PowerShell gives you flexibility in managing user accounts and groups, especially when you need to automate tasks or perform bulk operations in an Active Directory environment. PowerShell scripts can be powerful tools for efficiently managing user accounts and groups at scale.