ADModify.NETADModify.NET is a free Open Source tool from Microsoft (CodPlex) that allows you to modify multiple Active Directory objects' attributes. You probably know that the Active Directory User and Computers (ADUC) interface has limited bulk modification capabilities. You can open the properties of multiple user accounts, however, you can change only a few attributes this way. With ADModify.NET you can edit all Active Directory user properties, and even Exchange attributes.

Latest posts by Michael Pietroforte (see all)

ADModify.NET-select-users ADModify.NET is an easy-to-use standalone tool. First you have to choose the domain and the domain controller. Then you select the organizational unit that contains the user accounts you want to change. Clicking on "Add to List" will copy all user objects in this container to the list in the right pane. You can tell ADModify.NET to traverse sub containers. It is also possible to filter the user objects that will be copied to the right pane with a LDAP query. Next, you have to select manually which user account you want to edit. You also can just select all user objects in the right pane.

ADModify.NET-properties After you click "Next," the properties dialog you know from ADUC will open. You can edit multiple attributes here, but I advise against it if you have to change a large number of user accounts. It is safer to use multiple steps for that. ADModify.NET saves each user account's original values in an XML file, which allows you to undo all changes. If you have to correct your settings later, you can do that for a specific attribute. Also note that changing a large number of user objects can stress your domain controller significantly. I couldn't undo the changes made to the "Account is disabled" attribute; ADModify.NET seems to have a bug here. The undo function worked fine with other boolean attributes.

ADModify.NET also allows you to import mailbox rights that you exported from another Exchange server. I didn't try this feature, though. There is a command line version of the tool, so you can use it also in scripts. The help file says nothing about the command line version, but you can learn about its syntax with "admodcmd /? | more".

According to the CodPlex homepage, there should be a version 3 of ADModify.NET, and the latest build of the tool was uploaded in February 2009. However, the two available download links are only for the old version 2.1. I somehow think that the wrong version was uploaded. I tried the tool under both Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 (functional level Server 2008).

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ADModify.NET

1 Comment
  1. Prateek Saurabh 10 years ago

    I prefer WiseSoftBulkADUsers. It is free, simple, GUI is very user friendly for Bulk updates.

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