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Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit
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NAME Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit
SYNOPSIS
Removes an Active Directory organizational unit.
SYNTAX
Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit [-Identity] <ADOrganizationalUnit> [-AuthType {Negotiate | Basic}] [-Credential
<PSCredential>] [-Partition <String>] [-Recursive] [-Server <String>] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]
DESCRIPTION
The Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit cmdlet removes an Active Directory organizational unit.
The Identity parameter specifies the organizational unit to remove. You can identify an organizational unit by its
distinguished name (DN) or GUID. You can also set the parameter to an organizational unit object variable, such as
$<localOrganizationUnitObject> or you can pass an object through the pipeline to the Identity parameter. For
example, you can use the Get-ADOrganizationalUnit cmdlet to retrieve the object and then pass the object through
the pipeline to the Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit cmdlet.
If the object you specify to remove has child objects, you must specify the Recursive parameter.
If the ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion property of the organizational unit object is set to true, the cmdlet
returns a terminating error.
For AD LDS environments, the Partition parameter must be specified except in the following two conditions:
-The cmdlet is run from an Active Directory provider drive.
-A default naming context or partition is defined for the AD LDS environment. 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 <ADOrganizationalUnit>
Specifies the identity of an Active Directory organizational unit object. The parameter accepts the following
identity formats. The identifier in parentheses is the LDAP display name for the attribute that contains the
identity.
Distinguished Name
Example: OU=Europe,CN=Users,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.
This example shows how to set the parameter to a distinguished name.
-Identity "OU=Europe,CN=Users,DC=corp,DC=contoso,DC=com"
This example shows how to set this parameter to an organizational unit object instance named "OUinstance".
-Identity $OUInstance
Required? true
Position? 1
Default value
Accept pipeline input? True (ByValue)
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 remove the organizational unit and any child items it contains. You must specify
this parameter to remove an organizational unit (OU) that is not empty.
Note: Specifying this parameter it will remove all child objects under an OU that has been marked with
ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion.
The following example shows how to specify this parameter.
-Recursive
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.ADOrganizationalUnit
An organizational unit object is received by the Identity parameter.
OUTPUTS
None
NOTES
This cmdlet does not work with an Active Directory Snapshot.
This cmdlet does not work with a read-only domain controller.
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-ADOrganizationalUnit -Identity "OU=Accounting,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM" -Recursive
Are you sure you want to remove the item and all its children?
Performing recursive remove on Target: 'OU=Accounting,DC=Fabrikam,DC=com'.
[Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help
(default is "Y"):y
Description
-----------
Removes an OrganizationalUnit and all of it's children. If the OrganizationalUnit is protected from deletion, then
the OrganizationalUnit and it's children will not be deleted. If the OrganizationalUnit is not protected but any
of the children are, then both the OrganizationalUnit and the children will be deleted.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 2 --------------------------
C:\\PS>Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit -Identity "1b228aa5-2c14-48b8-ad8a-2685dc22e055" -confirm:$false
Description
-----------
Removes an OrganizationalUnit using it's objectGUID as the Identity while suppressing the confirmation prompt.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 3 --------------------------
C:\\PS>Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit -Identity "OU=Accounting,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM"
Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Performing operation "Remove" on Target "OU=Accounting,DC=Fabrikam,DC=com".
[Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help
(default is "Y"):y
Description
-----------
Removes the Accounting OrganizationalUnit.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 4 --------------------------
C:\\PS>Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit -Identity "OU=Managed,DC=AppNC" -server "FABRIKAM-SRV1:60000" -confirm:$false
Description
-----------
Removes an OrganizationalUnit from an LDS instance.
RELATED LINKS
Online Version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=291091
Get-ADOrganizationalUnit
New-ADOrganizationalUnit
Set-ADOrganizationalUnit
SYNOPSIS
Removes an Active Directory organizational unit.
SYNTAX
Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit [-Identity] <ADOrganizationalUnit> [-AuthType {Negotiate | Basic}] [-Credential
<PSCredential>] [-Partition <String>] [-Recursive] [-Server <String>] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]
DESCRIPTION
The Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit cmdlet removes an Active Directory organizational unit.
The Identity parameter specifies the organizational unit to remove. You can identify an organizational unit by its
distinguished name (DN) or GUID. You can also set the parameter to an organizational unit object variable, such as
$<localOrganizationUnitObject> or you can pass an object through the pipeline to the Identity parameter. For
example, you can use the Get-ADOrganizationalUnit cmdlet to retrieve the object and then pass the object through
the pipeline to the Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit cmdlet.
If the object you specify to remove has child objects, you must specify the Recursive parameter.
If the ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion property of the organizational unit object is set to true, the cmdlet
returns a terminating error.
For AD LDS environments, the Partition parameter must be specified except in the following two conditions:
-The cmdlet is run from an Active Directory provider drive.
-A default naming context or partition is defined for the AD LDS environment. 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 <ADOrganizationalUnit>
Specifies the identity of an Active Directory organizational unit object. The parameter accepts the following
identity formats. The identifier in parentheses is the LDAP display name for the attribute that contains the
identity.
Distinguished Name
Example: OU=Europe,CN=Users,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.
This example shows how to set the parameter to a distinguished name.
-Identity "OU=Europe,CN=Users,DC=corp,DC=contoso,DC=com"
This example shows how to set this parameter to an organizational unit object instance named "OUinstance".
-Identity $OUInstance
Required? true
Position? 1
Default value
Accept pipeline input? True (ByValue)
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 remove the organizational unit and any child items it contains. You must specify
this parameter to remove an organizational unit (OU) that is not empty.
Note: Specifying this parameter it will remove all child objects under an OU that has been marked with
ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion.
The following example shows how to specify this parameter.
-Recursive
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.ADOrganizationalUnit
An organizational unit object is received by the Identity parameter.
OUTPUTS
None
NOTES
This cmdlet does not work with an Active Directory Snapshot.
This cmdlet does not work with a read-only domain controller.
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-ADOrganizationalUnit -Identity "OU=Accounting,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM" -Recursive
Are you sure you want to remove the item and all its children?
Performing recursive remove on Target: 'OU=Accounting,DC=Fabrikam,DC=com'.
[Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help
(default is "Y"):y
Description
-----------
Removes an OrganizationalUnit and all of it's children. If the OrganizationalUnit is protected from deletion, then
the OrganizationalUnit and it's children will not be deleted. If the OrganizationalUnit is not protected but any
of the children are, then both the OrganizationalUnit and the children will be deleted.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 2 --------------------------
C:\\PS>Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit -Identity "1b228aa5-2c14-48b8-ad8a-2685dc22e055" -confirm:$false
Description
-----------
Removes an OrganizationalUnit using it's objectGUID as the Identity while suppressing the confirmation prompt.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 3 --------------------------
C:\\PS>Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit -Identity "OU=Accounting,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM"
Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Performing operation "Remove" on Target "OU=Accounting,DC=Fabrikam,DC=com".
[Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help
(default is "Y"):y
Description
-----------
Removes the Accounting OrganizationalUnit.
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 4 --------------------------
C:\\PS>Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit -Identity "OU=Managed,DC=AppNC" -server "FABRIKAM-SRV1:60000" -confirm:$false
Description
-----------
Removes an OrganizationalUnit from an LDS instance.
RELATED LINKS
Online Version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=291091
Get-ADOrganizationalUnit
New-ADOrganizationalUnit
Set-ADOrganizationalUnit