PowerShell Active Directory User Onboarding Script

A PowerShell script to automate the creation of new Active Directory users by reading from a CSV file. This project was built to practice my skills in PowerShell and AD automation.

🚀 Why I Built This

In my role as a Network Administrator, I provided remote desktop support for 100+ users. Manually provisioning each user is time-consuming and prone to errors.

I built this script to solve that problem. It demonstrates my ability to apply my PowerShell skills to automate a critical and repetitive IT task, saving time and ensuring every new user is configured correctly from day one.

✨ Features

• Reads from CSV: Ingests a NewUsers.csv file containing FirstName, LastName, Department, etc.
• Creates AD User: Automatically creates the new user in the correct Organizational Unit (OU) in Active Directory.
• Sets Password: Assigns a random, temporary password and forces a change on first login.
• Adds to Groups: Automatically adds the new user to default security groups based on their department.
• Logs Everything: Creates a transcript of all actions for troubleshooting.

🔧 Technologies Used

• PowerShell
• Active Directory (AD)
• Windows 10/11 (as the host)

⚙️ How to Use

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Nightlines/AD-User-Onboarding-Script.git

2. Prepare your NewUsers.csv file in the same directory with the following format:

   FirstName,LastName,Department,JobTitle,Email
   John,Doe,IT,Systems Administrator,john.doe@company.com
   Jane,Smith,HR,HR Manager,jane.smith@company.com

3. Update the script variables to match your AD environment:

   • Domain name
   • OU paths
   • Security group names

4. Open PowerShell as an Administrator.

5. Run the script:

   .\New-AD-Users.ps1

📋 Prerequisites

• Windows Server with Active Directory Domain Services installed
• PowerShell 5.1 or higher
• Active Directory PowerShell module
• Domain Administrator privileges
• Properly formatted CSV file

📊 CSV File Format

Your NewUsers.csv should include the following columns:

Column	Description	Required
FirstName	User's first name	Yes
LastName	User's last name	Yes
Department	Department name (IT, HR, Sales, etc.)	Yes
JobTitle	User's job title	No
Email	User's email address	Yes

🔐 Security Considerations

• Temporary passwords are randomly generated and meet complexity requirements
• Users must change password on first login
• All actions are logged with timestamps
• Script requires administrator privileges to execute

📝 Sample Output

[2024-11-15 10:30:15] Starting AD User Onboarding Process...
[2024-11-15 10:30:16] Successfully created user: John Doe (jdoe)
[2024-11-15 10:30:16] Added jdoe to group: IT-Users
[2024-11-15 10:30:17] Successfully created user: Jane Smith (jsmith)
[2024-11-15 10:30:17] Added jsmith to group: HR-Users
[2024-11-15 10:30:18] Process completed. 2 users created successfully.

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Issue: "Unable to contact domain controller"

• Solution: Verify network connectivity and domain controller availability

Issue: "Access denied"

• Solution: Ensure you're running PowerShell as Administrator with proper AD permissions

Issue: "User already exists"

• Solution: Check AD for existing accounts before running the script

🔮 Future Enhancements

• Add email notification upon user creation
• Support for multiple domains
• GUI interface for easier use
• Integration with HR systems
• Automated home directory creation
• Error handling improvements

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome! Feel free to check the issues page.

👤 Author

Cameron O'Brien

• GitHub: @CTOBrien
• LinkedIn: Cameron O'Brien

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Microsoft PowerShell Documentation
• Active Directory Administration Community
• IT Department colleagues for testing and feedback

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