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Remove-ADObject

Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:21 pm

NAME Remove-ADObject



SYNOPSIS

Removes an Active Directory object.





SYNTAX

Remove-ADObject [-Identity] <ADObject> [-AuthType {Negotiate | Basic}] [-Credential <PSCredential>]

[-IncludeDeletedObjects] [-Partition <String>] [-Recursive] [-Server <String>] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf]

[<CommonParameters>]





DESCRIPTION

The Remove-ADObject cmdlet removes an Active Directory object. You can use this cmdlet to remove any type of

Active Directory object.



The Identity parameter specifies the Active Directory object to remove. You can identify an object by its

distinguished name (DN) or GUID. You can also set the Identity parameter to an Active Directory object variable,

such as $<localObject>, or pass an object through the pipeline to the Identity parameter. For example, you can use

the Get-ADObject cmdlet to retrieve an object and then pass the object through the pipeline to the Remove-ADObject

cmdlet.



If the object you specify to remove has child objects, you must specify the Recursive parameter.



For AD LDS environments, the Partition parameter must be specified except when: - Using a DN to identify

objects: the partition will be auto-generated from the DN. - Running cmdlets from an Active Directory provider

drive: the current path will be used to set the partition. - A default naming context or partition is

specified.



To specify a default naming context for an AD LDS environment, set the msDS-defaultNamingContext property of the

Active Directory directory service agent (DSA) object (nTDSDSA) for the AD LDS instance.





PARAMETERS

-AuthType <ADAuthType>

Specifies the authentication method to use. Possible values for this parameter include:



Negotiate or 0



Basic or 1



The default authentication method is Negotiate.



A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection is required for the Basic authentication method.



The following example shows how to set this parameter to Basic.



-AuthType Basic



Required? false

Position? named

Default value Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.AuthType.Negotiate

Accept pipeline input? false

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Credential <PSCredential>

Specifies the user account credentials to use to perform this task. The default credentials are the

credentials of the currently logged on user unless the cmdlet is run from an Active Directory PowerShell

provider drive. If the cmdlet is run from such a provider drive, the account associated with the drive is the

default.



To specify this parameter, you can type a user name, such as "User1" or "Domain01\\User01" or you can specify a

PSCredential object. If you specify a user name for this parameter, the cmdlet prompts for a password.



You can also create a PSCredential object by using a script or by using the Get-Credential cmdlet. You can

then set the Credential parameter to the PSCredential object The following example shows how to create

credentials.



$AdminCredentials = Get-Credential "Domain01\\User01"



The following shows how to set the Credential parameter to these credentials.



-Credential $AdminCredentials



If the acting credentials do not have directory-level permission to perform the task, Active Directory

PowerShell returns a terminating error.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value

Accept pipeline input? false

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Identity <ADObject>

Specifies an Active Directory object by providing one of the following property values. The identifier in

parentheses is the LDAP display name for the attribute.



Distinguished Name



Example: CN=saradavis,OU=users,OU=asia,DC=corp,DC=contoso,DC=com



GUID (objectGUID)



Example: 599c3d2e-f72d-4d20-8a88-030d99495f20



The cmdlet searches the default naming context or partition to find the object. If two or more objects are

found, the cmdlet returns a non-terminating error.



This parameter can also get this object through the pipeline or you can set this parameter to an object

instance.



Derived types, such as the following are also accepted:



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADGroup



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADUser



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADComputer



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADServiceAccount



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADFineGrainedPasswordPolicy



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADDomain



This example shows how to set this parameter to an ADObject object instance named "ADObjectInstance".



-Identity $ADObjectInstance



Required? true

Position? 1

Default value

Accept pipeline input? True (ByValue)

Accept wildcard characters? false



-IncludeDeletedObjects [<SwitchParameter>]

Specifies to retrieve deleted objects and the deactivated forward and backward links. When this parameter is

specified, the cmdlet uses the following LDAP controls:



Show Deleted Objects (1.2.840.113556.1.4.417)



Show Deactivated Links (1.2.840.113556.1.4.2065)



Note: If this parameter is not specified, the cmdlet will not return or operate on deleted objects.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value

Accept pipeline input? false

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Partition <String>

Specifies the distinguished name of an Active Directory partition. The distinguished name must be one of the

naming contexts on the current directory server. The cmdlet searches this partition to find the object defined

by the Identity parameter.



The following two examples show how to specify a value for this parameter.



-Partition "CN=Configuration,DC=EUROPE,DC=TEST,DC=CONTOSO,DC=COM"



-Partition "CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=EUROPE,DC=TEST,DC=CONTOSO,DC=COM"



In many cases, a default value will be used for the Partition parameter if no value is specified. The rules

for determining the default value are given below. Note that rules listed first are evaluated first and once

a default value can be determined, no further rules will be evaluated.



In AD DS environments, a default value for Partition will be set in the following cases: - If the Identity

parameter is set to a distinguished name, the default value of Partition is automatically generated from this

distinguished name.



- If running cmdlets from an Active Directory provider drive, the default value of Partition is automatically

generated from the current path in the drive.



- If none of the previous cases apply, the default value of Partition will be set to the default partition or

naming context of the target domain.



In AD LDS environments, a default value for Partition will be set in the following cases:



- If the Identity parameter is set to a distinguished name, the default value of Partition is automatically

generated from this distinguished name.



- If running cmdlets from an Active Directory provider drive, the default value of Partition is automatically

generated from the current path in the drive.



- If the target AD LDS instance has a default naming context, the default value of Partition will be set to

the default naming context. To specify a default naming context for an AD LDS environment, set the

msDS-defaultNamingContext property of the Active Directory directory service agent (DSA) object (nTDSDSA) for

the AD LDS instance.



- If none of the previous cases apply, the Partition parameter will not take any default value.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value

Accept pipeline input? false

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Recursive [<SwitchParameter>]

Specifies that the cmdlet should remove the object and any children it contains.



The following example shows how to specify this parameter.



-Recursive



Note: Specifying this parameter it will remove all child objects even if there are objects marked with

ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value

Accept pipeline input? false

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Server <String>

Specifies the Active Directory Domain Services instance to connect to, by providing one of the following

values for a corresponding domain name or directory server. The service may be any of the following: Active

Directory Lightweight Domain Services, Active Directory Domain Services or Active Directory Snapshot instance.



Domain name values:



Fully qualified domain name



Examples: corp.contoso.com



NetBIOS name



Example: CORP



Directory server values:



Fully qualified directory server name



Example: corp-DC12.corp.contoso.com



NetBIOS name



Example: corp-DC12



Fully qualified directory server name and port



Example: corp-DC12.corp.contoso.com:3268



The default value for the Server parameter is determined by one of the following methods in the order that

they are listed:



-By using Server value from objects passed through the pipeline.



-By using the server information associated with the Active Directory PowerShell provider drive, when running

under that drive.



-By using the domain of the computer running Powershell.



The following example shows how to specify a full qualified domain name as the parameter value.



-Server "corp.contoso.com"



Required? false

Position? named

Default value

Accept pipeline input? false

Accept wildcard characters? false



-Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]

Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value false

Accept pipeline input? false

Accept wildcard characters? false



-WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]

Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.



Required? false

Position? named

Default value false

Accept pipeline input? false

Accept wildcard characters? false



<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,

ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,

OutBuffer, PipelineVariable, and OutVariable. For more information, see

about_CommonParameters (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113216).



INPUTS

None or Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADObject



An Active Directory object is received by the Identity parameter. Derived types, such as the following are

also accepted:



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADGroup



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADUser



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADComputer



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADServiceAccount



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADOrganizationalUnit



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADFineGrainedPasswordPolicy



Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADDomain





OUTPUTS

None







NOTES





This cmdlet does not work with an Active Directory Snapshot.



This cmdlet does not work with a read-only domain controller.



This cmdlet does not work when connected to a Global Catalog port.



By default, this cmdlet has the -Confirm parameter set, which prompts you to confirm before a removal of the

specified object type can occur. To bypass prompting for confirmation before removal, you can specify

-Confirm:$false when using this cmdlet.





-------------------------- EXAMPLE 1 --------------------------



C:\\PS>Remove-ADObject 'CN=AmyAl-LPTOP,CN=Computers,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM'





Confirm

Are you sure you want to perform this action?

Performing operation "Remove" on Target "CN=AmyAl-LPTOP,CN=Computers,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM".

[Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"): y



Description



-----------



Remove the object identified by the DistinguishedName 'CN=AmyAl-LPTOP,CN=Computers,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM'.

-------------------------- EXAMPLE 2 --------------------------



C:\\PS>Remove-ADObject "OU=Finance,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM" -Recursive





Confirm

Are you sure you want to perform this action?

Performing operation "Remove" on Target "OU=Finance,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM".

[Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"): y



Description



-----------



Deletes the container with DistinguishedName 'OU=Finance,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM' including the child

objects. Note: All the children of the container including the ones which are protected from accidental deletion

are also deleted.

-------------------------- EXAMPLE 3 --------------------------



C:\\PS>Remove-ADObject "65511e76-ea80-45e1-bc93-08a78d8c4853" -Confirm:$false



Description



-----------



Removes the object with objectGUID '65511e76-ea80-45e1-bc93-08a78d8c4853' without giving the confirmation prompt.

-------------------------- EXAMPLE 4 --------------------------



C:\\PS>Remove-ADObject -Identity "CN=InternalApps,DC=AppNC" -server "FABRIKAM-SRV1:60000"



Confirm

Are you sure you want to perform this action?

Performing operation "Remove" on Target "CN=InternalApps,DC=AppNC".

[Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"): y



Description



-----------



removes the object with DistinguishedName 'CN=InternalApps,DC=AppNC' from an LDS instance.

-------------------------- EXAMPLE 5 --------------------------



C:\\PS>Get-ADObject -Filter 'isDeleted -eq $true -and -not (isRecycled -eq $true) -and name -ne "Deleted Objects"

-and lastKnownParent -eq "OU=Accounting,DC=Fabrikam,DC=com"' -IncludeDeletedObjects | Remove-ADObject



Description



-----------



Recycles all the objects in the recycle bin which used to be in the container 'OU=Accounting,DC=Fabrikam,DC=com'.



RELATED LINKS

Online Version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=291090

Get-ADObject

New-ADObject

Set-ADObject