Validate credentials for remote domain - powershell

Question

Can anyone advise on how to validate credentials on a remote domain?
My environment has multiple domains that do not have trust relationships defined between them.
I have a Powershell script that needs to access a shared folder residing on a server in another domain which obviously requires authentication. Prior to accessing it, I need to validate credentials to avoid lock-outs (The script can be ran against multiple servers).
In the past I've used this wonderful script which used current domain for validation but I cannot get it to work against a remote domain.
I tried this is (slightly modified script from link above):
function Test-Cred {
[CmdletBinding()]
[OutputType([String])]
Param (
[Parameter(
Mandatory = $false,
ValueFromPipeLine = $true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true
)]
[Alias(
'PSCredential'
)]
[ValidateNotNull()]
[System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]
[System.Management.Automation.Credential()]
$Credentials
)
$Domain = $null
$Root = $null
$Username = $null
$Password = $null
If($Credentials -eq $null)
{
Try
{
$Credentials = Get-Credential "domain\$env:username" -ErrorAction Stop
}
Catch
{
$ErrorMsg = $_.Exception.Message
Write-Warning "Failed to validate credentials: $ErrorMsg "
Pause
Break
}
}
# Checking module
Try
{
# Split username and password
$Username = $credentials.username
$Password = $credentials.GetNetworkCredential().password
# Get Domain
###$Root = "LDAP://" + ([ADSI]'').distinguishedName
$Root = "LDAP://DC=remote_domain,DC=com" ### statically define the remote domain
$Domain = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry($Root,$UserName,$Password)
}
Catch
{
$_.Exception.Message
Continue
}
If(!$domain)
{
Write-Warning "Something went wrong"
}
Else
{
If ($domain.name -ne $null)
{
return "Authenticated"
}
Else
{
$Domain ### diagnosing the error
return "Not authenticated"
}
}
}
I get the following error:
format-default : The following exception occurred while retrieving member "distinguishedName": "The user name or
password is incorrect.
"
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [format-default], ExtendedTypeSystemException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CatchFromBaseGetMember,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.FormatDefaultCommand
The username/password is 100% correct.
Thank you
EDIT 1
I have found the following blog post that goes over how to work with Active Directory using .Net assemblies. The following has worked quite well
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement
#store credentials (of account with appropriate permissions)
$creds = Get-Credential
#set the domain name
$dn = 'contoso.com'
#Create the principal context object (so to say connect to a domain with the credentials provided)
$pc = [System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext]::new([System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.ContextType]::`
Domain,$dn,$($creds.UserName),$($creds.GetNetworkCredential().Password))
I assume I could use this in an If statement to achieve what I need. Admittedly, I do not know the way of the .Net and it is a bit scary but I will have to learn it.
EDIT 2
Here is what I pieced together:
Function Test-Cred
{
[CmdletBinding()]
[OutputType([String])]
Param (
[Parameter(
Mandatory = $false,
ValueFromPipeLine = $true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true
)]
[Alias(
'PSCredential'
)]
[ValidateNotNull()]
[System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]
[System.Management.Automation.Credential()]
$Credentials
)
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement
# Checking module
$Validated = [System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext]::new([System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.ContextType]::Domain,'remote_domain',$($Credentials.UserName),$($Credentials.GetNetworkCredential().Password))
If ($Validated.ConnectedServer)
{
Return "Authenticated"
}
Else
{
Return "Not authenticated"
}
}
Any feedback?
EDIT 3
Well, EDIT 2 does not work for Powershell 4, grrr
Method invocation failed because [System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext] dies not contain method named 'new'
I had to make it work like this:
$ContextType = [System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.ContextType]::Domain
$ContextName = 'target_domain.com'
$Validated = New-Object -TypeName System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext -ArgumentList $ContextType, $ContextName, $($Credentials.UserName),$($Credentials.GetNetworkCredential().Password)

Answer 1

Here is my final version of this test function that works with Powershell version older than 5.1.
Function Test-Cred
{
[CmdletBinding()]
[OutputType([String])]
Param (
[Parameter(
Mandatory = $false,
ValueFromPipeLine = $true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true
)]
[Alias(
'PSCredential'
)]
[ValidateNotNull()]
[System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]
[System.Management.Automation.Credential()]
$Credentials
)
# Checking module
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement
$ContextType = [System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.ContextType]::Domain
$ContextName = 'remote_domain.com'
$Validated = New-Object -TypeName System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext -ArgumentList $ContextType, $ContextName, $($Credentials.UserName),$($Credentials.GetNetworkCredential().Password)
If ($Validated.ConnectedServer)
{
Return "Authenticated"
}
Else
{
Return "Not authenticated"
}
}