Skip to main content

How to find out which clients in your domain were added by an Authenticated User

By
In a Windows domain, all Authenticated Users have the ability to add up to 10 clients to the domain without contacting a Domain Admin. Here is how to find out which computers were added to your domain by your users.

On the Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller, open PowerShell

Type Import-Module ActiveDirectory and press Enter

Type get-ADComputer –filter * –property ms-DS-CreatorSID where {‘$_.ms-DS-CreatorSID’ –like ‘*’} and press Enter.

Each computer that is listed has a value in the ms-DS-CreatorSID attribute. If the computer account was pre-created in Active Directory Users and Computers or manually joined by a Domain Administrator, a SID would not be present here. The SID is the SID of the user account that joined the computer to the domain.

OK, that was informative. You may be asking “How do I find out who added what?” The answer is in PowerShell. Sure, you could manually search each Computer account in Active Directory and record any ms-DS-CreatorSID attributes that you find. You could then manually look at the SID for each user and compare them. I would not waste my time that way. Here is a script that will do it for you. This is a PowerShell V2 script. Do not forget to run Import-Module ActiveDirectory into the PowerShell ISE before running this.


$CompList = Get-AdComputer –filter * –property ms-DS-CreatorSID | Select name, ms-DS-CreatorSID
$UserAccounts = Get-ADUser –Filter *
ForEach ($Comp in $CompList) {
ForEach ($User in $UserAccounts) {
$Test = $User.SID.Value
If ($Comp –like ‘*’ + $Test + ‘*’) {
Write-Host $User.Name Created $Comp.Name
}
}
}

The first line enumerates all the computer accounts in Active Directory. It includes the property ms-DC-CreatorSID since this attribute is not normally returned in this query. The data is the piped to the Select cmdlet so only the name and the SID is left.

Line 2 Enumerates all the user accounts in Active Directory and stores all the objectys in the variable $UserAccounts.

Line 3 cycles through each record from line 1 and examines them one at a time.

Line 4 cycles through each record of user accounts one at a time.

Line 5 creates a variable called $Test. This variable holds the value of the SID for the User account that is currently being examined.

Line 6 Compares the SID recovered from the creator of the computer account, and the users SID. The data from the computer account has some extra data in it. for that reason, we used wild card characters around the $Test variable so this extra data will not be of concern.

Line 7 writes who installed what to the display.
The remaining lines are syntax for closing the ForEach loops.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sticky Key problem between Windows Server 2012 and LogMeIn

By
This week I instructed my first class using Windows Server 2012 accessed via LogMeIn and discovered a Sticky Key problem every time you press the Shift key. Here is my solution to resolve this.  First off, in the Preferences of LogMeIn for the connection to the Windows Server, click General . Change the Keyboard and mouse priority to Host side user and click Apply at the bottom. On the Windows 2012 server, open the Control Panel – Ease of Access – Change how your keyboard works . Uncheck Turn on Sticky Keys . Click Set up Sticky Keys . Uncheck Turn on Sticky Keys when SHIFT is pressed five times . Click OK twice. If you are using Windows Server 2012 as a Hyper-V host, you will need to redo the Easy of Use settings on each guest operating system in order to avoid the Sticky Key Problem. Updated Information: March 20, 2013 If you continue to have problems, Uncheck Turn on Filter Keys .
6 comments
Read more

With the AD Recycle Bin Turned on, What Happens when you Create a User Account with a Password that does not meet the Password Policy?

By
This was an interesting observation from one of my Windows Server 2012 classes.  While working with the AD Recycle bin in a lab, one of my students discovered some interesting accounts that were created. When he created user accounts that did not meet password complexity requirements, an account is temporarily made and then deleted.  When a new password is provided that meets the password requirements, then a new account is made. We discovered this in two places.  First off in the Active Directory Administrative Center.  This is what caused the initial confusion.  Take a look.  This is in the Deleted Objects OU. You can see multiple deleted accounts for Test2 and one for Test3.  Test3 is a valid, functioning user account.  Using the PowerShell command Get-ADObject –IncludeDeletedObjects –Filter * –Properties ObjectSID we can see that indeed, two accounts were created, with one of them deleted. Notice the RID portion of the SID is different. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Backup and Restore AD LDS with DSDBUTIL.exe

By
Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services allow you to create a directory service that allows applications to have access to user accounts, groups, and authentication similar to Active Directory Domain Services.  The big advantage here is that the schema of the directory service will not be bound by the rules of an Active Directory database.  Exchange 2007/2010, for example, use an instance of AD LDS on the Edge Transport Server to provide for user authentication from the internet.  Because your Active Directory database is not exposed to the internet, this is more secure. Applications will handle most of the dirty work should they require AD LDS.  You may want to make sure the database is being backed up and also have a restore plan in place.  Should the database become corrupt, the application that uses that database will fail.  This document will walk you through backing up and restoring an instance of AD LDS using the dsdbutil.exe command. Fi...
6 comments
Read more