Modifying Computer Objects with Active Directory - Listing All the Computer Accounts in a Domain

Problem

You want to obtain a list of all computer accounts in an Active Directory domain.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

1. Open the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in.
   
2. Right-click on the domain node and select Find.
   
3. In the Find drop-down box, select Computers and click Find Now.
   
   All computer objects in the domain will be displayed in the Search Results window.

Using a command-line interface

  > adfind –default –f (objectCategory=computer)

Using VBScript

  ' The following script will enumerate all computer accounts
  ' within an Active Directory domain.

  Const ADS_SCOPE_SUBTREE = 2
  strDomain = "<DomainDN>"

  Set objConnection = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
  Set objCommand = CreateObject("ADODB.Command")
  objConnection.Provider = "ADsDSOObject"
  objConnection.Open "Active Directory Provider"

  Set objCOmmand.ActiveConnection = objConnection
  objCommand.CommandText = _
      "Select Name, Location from 'LDAP://" & strDomain & "' " _
         & "Where objectCategory='computer'"
  objCommand.Properties("Page Size") = 1000
  objCommand.Properties("Searchscope") = ADS_SCOPE_SUBTREE
  Set objRecordSet = objCommand.Execute
  objRecordSet.MoveFirst

  Do Until objRecordSet.EOF
      Wscript.Echo "Computer Name: " & objRecordSet.Fields("Name").Value
      Wscript.Echo "Location: " & objRecordSet.Fields("Location").Value
      objRecordSet.MoveNext
  Loop

Discussion

Using VBScript

To obtain a list of domain controllers, rather than just computer objects, you should query the Configuration NC rather than the domain NC, and replace "where objectCategory=computer" with "where objectCategory=ntDSDSA".

See Also

MSDN: Object Class and Object Category [Active Directory] and MSDN: Object-Class Attribute [AD-Schema]

Next: Identifying a Computer Role >>
 

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