Having problems adding users to an Active Directory group using C#

Question

Okay, my problem right now is we're trying to write code that will add a user to a different group in our Active Directory. This is the solution we've written.

Part of the main method:

string newGroup = "TestDelete";
string userName = result.Properties["cn"][0].ToString();
string adduser = ad.AddToGroup(userName, newGroup);
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0} : {1}",userName, adduser));

Which calls this method from another class:

public String AddToGroup(string userDn, string groupDn)
{
    try
    {
        DirectoryEntry ldapConnection = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://OU=" + groupDn + ",DC=blah,DC=blah,DC=blah");
        ldapConnection.AuthenticationType = AuthenticationTypes.Secure;

        string newUser = "CN=" + userDn + "CN=Members,DC=blah,DC=blah,DC=blah";

        ldapConnection.Invoke("Add", new object[] { newUser });
        ldapConnection.CommitChanges();
        ldapConnection.Close();

        return "Success";
    }
    catch (System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryServicesCOMException E)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Exception caught:\n\n" + E.ToString());
    }
}

It's throwing the exception

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80020006): Unknown name. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80020006 (DISP_E_UNKNOWNNAME))
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.InvokeSet(String propertyName, Object[] args)
at adjustUsers.Program.AddToGroup(String userDn, String groupDn) in C:\Users\XXX\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\UserPruning\adjustUsers\Program.cs:line 45
at UserPruning.MainProgram.Main(String[] args) in C:\Users\XXX\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\UserPruning\UserPruning\MainProgram.cs:line 46

Which, as far as we've been able to find indicates a problem with our syntax.

Line 46 is

string adduser = ad.AddToGroup(userName,newGroup)

Line 45 is

ldapConnection.Invoke("Add", new object[] {newUser});

We've been trying to rewrite this piece of code for the last day and are still stumped.

Help?

Thanks

marc_s · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-07 05:36:39Z

8

If you're on .NET 3.5 and up, you should check out the System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement (S.DS.AM) namespace. Read all about it here:

Basically, you can define a domain context and easily find users and/or groups in AD:

// set up domain context
using (PrincipalContext ctx = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain))
{
    // find your user
    UserPrincipal user = UserPrincipal.FindByIdentity(ctx, "SomeUserName");

    if(user != null)
    {
        // find the group in question
        GroupPrincipal group = GroupPrincipal.FindByIdentity(ctx, "TestDelete");

        // if found....
        if (group != null)
        {
            // add user to group
            group.Members.Add(user);
            group.Save();
        }
    }
}

The new S.DS.AM makes it really easy to play around with users and groups in AD!

answered Feb 7, 2013 at 5:36

marc_s

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3 Comments

Dan Forbes Over a year ago

I wish I could up-vote this answer more than once. I feel like almost everything online that I found about AD manipulation via C# links to the Howto: (Almost) Everything in Active Directory via C# [codeproject.com/Articles/18102/… article, which uses the DirectoryEntry API. The DirectoryServices API is much nicer! Thank you very much!

EndOfAll Over a year ago

The problem is that the AccountManagement namespace only works if the computer running it is on that domain and can resolve the domains you're querying.

vbhosale Over a year ago

I'm Querying another domain it can be the reason getting exception 'Information about the domain could not be retrieved (1355).' ?

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