thank you for visiting my first question on this website.
The purpose of this PowerShell script is to query the user for a partial name of a pre-existing computer on the domain. After the query is complete it retrieves the full computer name from a specific OU in active directory, and copies this full computer's name it to the user's clipboard. This is to help save time to the people I work with at the help desk(including myself) who have to perform this action manually every day.
Note:I'm pretty sure the problem isn't with the two 'Get-ADComputer' lines because if I manually enter the full computer name in the script it works exactly as intended. The issue seems to be either with how I'm defining the user input, or how it's being passed along to the variable($PCName) inside of the 'Get-ADComputer' cmdlet.
Here is the script in its entirety, the only thing I omitted is the specific active directory OU - I know it's looking in the right OU, because the lines taken individually and with a manually PC Name entered work great.
$global:PCName=(Read-Host "Enter partial PC name")
write-host "You entered the partial PC Name: $PCName"
return $PCName
#PCName Information Table Display.
Get-ADComputer -SearchBase 'OU=(Disregard)' -Filter 'Name -like "*$PCName*"' -Properties IPv4Address | Format-Table Name,DNSHostName,IPv4Address -A
#Progress indicator advisory message.
Write-Output "Converting $PCname to full computer name and copying result to your clipboard."
#Clip Line - Retrieves full PC name and copies resolved PC name to clipboard.
Get-ADComputer -SearchBase 'OU=(Disregard)' -Filter 'Name -like "*$PCName*"' | Select Name -ExpandProperty Name | Clip
#End of script advisory message.
Write-Output "Full PC Name:$PCName - Resolved and copied to clipboard."
If there's any other fault to be pointed out, I would appreciate it. I have been using PowerShell for less than a week and am a new programmer overall. I've performed no less than 40 google queries and spent at least 3 hours trying to get this to work.
Thank you!
do {
$computerName = read-host "Enter partial computer name [blank=quit]"
if ( -not $computerName ) {
break
}
$sb = [ScriptBlock]::Create("name -like '*$computerName*'")
$computer = get-adcomputer -filter $sb
if ( $computer ) {
$computer
$computer | select-object -expandproperty Name | clip
"Copied name to clipboard"
}
else {
"Not found"
}
""
}
while ( $true )
In PowerShell, single and double quotes each have a different meaning and significance. Variables will only be expanded in double quotes.
Your query does not work because you use single quotes for the parameter:
-Filter 'Name -like "*$PCName*"'
In this string, $PCName will not be replaced by its value. The double quotes are not significant here, because inside a single quoted string, they are just characters.
You can build the parameter like this:
-Filter ('Name -like "*' + $PCName + '*"')
Additionally, you should remove the return statement and in your example there is no need to create a global variable $global:PCName, you can use $PCName instead
Your main issue is how you were quoting your -Filter. Variables do not expand inside single quotes. Your query was looking for a computer matching the string literal $pcname as supposed to the variable contents.
Also you make the same call twice which is inefficient. You should also know that it is possible to have more than one match with this so you need to be aware of/ account for that possibility.
$PCName=(Read-Host "Enter partial PC name")
write-host "You entered the partial PC Name: $PCName"
#PCName Information Table Display.
$results = Get-ADComputer -SearchBase 'OU=(Disregard)' -Filter "Name -like '*$pcname*'" -Properties IPv4Address
$results | Format-Table Name,DNSHostName,IPv4Address -A
#Progress indicator advisory message.
Write-host "Converting $PCname to full computer name and copying result to your clipboard."
#Clip Line - Retrieves full PC name and copies resolved PC name to clipboard.
$results| Select -ExpandProperty Name | Clip
#End of script advisory message.
Write-host "Full PC Name:$PCName - Resolved and copied to clipboard."
I don't see a need for a global variable here so I removed it. Changed all the Write-Output to Write-Host as that is how you were treating them. If nothing else you have them mixed together so picking one would be more my point.
I had a similar issue with filter (building into an ASP application) and solved it by using curly brackets.
$searchterm = "*$($PCName)*"
-Filter {Name -like $searchterm}
The extra $() is most likely unnecessary in this particular instance as we aren't doing anything with the variable, but it's a habit of mine now.
Related
I've been using these lines of code:
$204computernames = Get-ADComputer -searchbase $sb -filter * | ?{$_.name -like "ptfg*-061*"} | select name
$onlineComputers = $204computernames |Where-Object { Test-Connection $_.name -Count 1 -Quiet }
to grab all of my computers on my network and put them into a variable so I can push all of my documents, updates, etc to them so that I dont have to go to each computer individually to get the files I want where I want. When I take the variable and put it into a line of code like this
Test-Connection $onlineComputers
I get errors like this:
Test-Connection : Testing connection to computer '#{name=PTFGW-0613618TN}' failed: A non-recoverable error occurred during a database lookup
At line:1 char:1
+ Test-Connection $onlineComputers
I'm assuming after extensive testing in different codes that there is a problem with the way my variable stores its values. Does anyone know how I can fix this issue?
As #boxdog already pointed out in the comments, with | select name you get objects with the single property Name. Therefore, you don't get a list of computer names, but a list of objects that have the computer name in the Name property. You can work with that and access each computer name like .Name.
But to solve your problem, you can replace | select name (which stands for | Select-Object -Property Name) by | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name. That way, you filter out only the computer name and expand the result to just this property. After that, you really have just a list of computernames (an array of string objects).
I've seen many code examples where Get-ADUser can be used to append a description with the following code:
get-aduser username -Properties Description | ForEach-Object { Set-ADUser $_ -Description "$($_.Description) Some more stuff" }
I had thought I could simply invert the order of the code in order to prepend, like so:
get-aduser username -properties Description | ForEach-Object { Set-ADUser $_ -Description "Stuff To Use - $($_.Description)"}
The output then becomes:
"Stuff To Use - Stuff To Use"
In essence, whatever is there to start with is wiped out completely and replaced with a doubled up result of the intended goal.
What am I missing here?
The code is good and it likely ran twice accidentally.
Reset the description, run the code, then refresh Active Directory Users and Computers and recheck.
I have created a script that would allow for the addition of the values "1-" to the beginning of our current AD fax numbers. I am running this in a test environment and the script runs exactly as I want it. I am looking for a failback and I can't seem to get that script to remove the "1-" it instead removes the 1 from the beginning and the final number from the end of the fax so the output looks like this: "-(###)-###-###" instead of looking like the correct number format "(###)-###-####"
Get-ADUser -Filter {facsimileTelephoneNumber -like "*"} -Properties facsimileTelephoneNumber| foreach {Set-ADUser -Identity $_ –replace #{facsimileTelephoneNumber="1-$($_.facsimileTelephoneNumber)"}}
Get-ADUser -Filter {facsimileTelephoneNumber -like "*"} -Properties facsimileTelephoneNumber| foreach {Set-ADUser -Identity $_ –replace #{facsimileTelephoneNumber="$(($_.facsimileTelephoneNumber).Substring(1,($_.facsimileTelephoneNumber.length) -2 ))"}}
Following my answer to your previous question where the 1- is added to the fax number, this is how you can reverse that.
I see in your question you are trying to do it all as one-liners, thereby skipping all possibility to check your code step-by-step. Using the first oneliner in your question also prepends 1- to simply every faxnumber found, regardless if it is needed or not.
Especially when just starting PowerShell, writing things out is a good thing.
Having said that, here's the code to remove the leading 1- from faxnumbers
# Remove leading '1-' from ADUsers faxnumbers
Import-Module ActiveDirectory
# get all users in the specified OU that have a fax number starting with '1-'
Get-ADUser -LdapFilter '(facsimileTelephoneNumber=1-*)' -SearchBase 'OU=UserAccounts,DC=YourDomain,DC=com' -Properties 'Fax' | ForEach-Object {
# using Substring() to remove the first two characters. See: https://ss64.com/ps/substring.html
$newFax = ($_.Fax).Substring(2)
Write-Host "Setting Faxnumber to '$newFax' for user $($_.Name)"
# remove the '-WhatIf' if you are sure the number may be changed
$_ | Set-ADUser -Fax $newFax -WhatIf
}
Hope this helps
I will first begin on saying I am very new to PowerShell and my question is probably very easy to solve. All I am trying to do is use Get-QADuser and grab all ad users with a fax number listed, once I have that I simply want to add a "1" to all those users at the beginning of said fax number. I am trying to go based on the code I see below, but I don't believe this is exactly what I need. Any and all help is appreciated!
Get-QADUser -SearchRoot "abc.com/ABC/Users" -LdapFilter '(facsimileTelephoneNumber=555-555-1234)' | Foreach-Object{Set-QADuser -Identity $_ -ObjectAttributes #{facsimileTelephoneNumber='555-555-4321'}}
Without using Quest tools, you could do something like below.
The assumption here is that you would like to add the 1 to a formatted faxnumber, so I'm going for prepending 1- to the existing number, but ONLY if the existing number does not already start with 1 or + (used for country codes).
Right now, the -WhatIf switch will make the code only output what WOULD happen so you can investigate if this is what you really want.
If you're happy with the output, remove the -WhatIf switch so the code actually updates the faxnumbers where applicable.
Import-Module ActiveDirectory
# get all users in the specified OU that have a fax number
Get-ADUser -LdapFilter '(facsimileTelephoneNumber=*)' -SearchBase 'OU=UserAccounts,DC=YourDomain,DC=com' -Properties 'Fax' | ForEach-Object {
# test if the number starts with a '1' or a '+' and if that is NOT the case, prepend '1-' to the number
if ($_.Fax -notmatch '^[+1].*') {
# the faxnumber does not already start with "1" or "+"
$newFax = '1-{0}' -f $_.Fax
Write-Host "Setting Faxnumber to '$newFax' for user $($_.Name)"
# remove the '-WhatIf' if you are sure the number may be changed
$_ | Set-ADUser -Fax $newFax -WhatIf
}
else {
Write-Host "Faxnumber '$($_.Fax)' for user $($_.Name) remains unchanged" -ForegroundColor Yellow
}
}
P.s. The -SearchBase is the DistinghuishedName property of the OU the users are in. Start 'Active Directory Users and Computers' (ADUC), select and right-click the wanted OU and choose 'Properties'. In tab 'Attributes' scroll down to distinghuishedName, double click and copy from there.
I am trying to write a script that will automatically find the full asset tag based on the ID of the computer.
For example:
The PC ID is: PC0001
$computerID = PC0001;
But the full asset tag that I need is: WKSPC0001
But these asset tags might have different prefixes, for example DSTPC0002, TBLPC0003 etc. But they all have common pattern: Prefix+PC+ID (the ID is unique and there is no repetition).
I am trying to figure out how to write a query for that in PowerShell but I cant figure it out. I've tried:
$current = Get-ADComputer -Filter {Name -like "*$computerId.text"} |
Select -Property Name
But I was having issues to get it to work.
What am I doing wrong?
A few observations.
You want $computerId to be a string, so $computerID = "PC0001";
The filter expression for Get-ADComputer is expected to be a string also, using curly braces here is wrong. So Get-ADComputer -Filter "..."
Powershell can expand variable values in strings, but it only does that in double-quoted strings. "Name -like '$variable'" will work, but 'Name -like "$variable"' won't.
There is no .text in your $computerId variable. It's a plain string.
Knowing that, try:
$current = Get-ADComputer -Filter "Name -like '*$computerId'"
Other notes
Don't do ... | Select Name unless you really must. Storing the computer object itself will be more versatile. You can do $current.Name when you need it anytime.
Querying the AD with a filter that begins with a wildcard is slow. Try to avoid.
If you have a fixed number of possible prefixes, an LDAP filter like the following will be much faster:
$current = Get-ADComputer -LDAPFilter "(|(cn=WKS$computerId)(cn=DST$computerId)(cn=TBL$computerId))"