PowerShell New-ADUser Multiple Variables for AccountPassword

Question

I have 50+ Active Directory users to create and I am attempting to do so with PowerShell. The idea is to have the username contain a number and increment by one through the loop. I'm also attempting to do the same increment with the password. The following script works with the exception of the password. I cannot figure out how to get the password to work.

The ideal result will be the users will be created like this...

Username: Training1 Password: Training1#5076

Username: Training2 Password: Training2#5076

etc, etc, etc,.

I have tried entering a simple string for the $PwCount and it works. I have tried using a variable for $PwCount and it works. And I have tried just entering a string for AccountPassword and it works. Where things break, is when I try to use multiple varialbes, in this case, including the $counter. Each time I attempt to run the script, I receive error: Cannot bind parameter 'AccountPassword'. Cannot convert the "System.Security.SecureString" value of type "System.String" to type "System.Security.SecureString".

Answer 1

I think you're looking for something like this:

1..50 |
    ForEach-Object{
        $acct = "Training{0}" -f $_
        $secpw = ConvertTo-SecureString ("Training{0}#5076" -f $_) -AsPlainText -Force
        New-ADUser -Name $acct -AccountPassword $secpw

    }

Answer 2

Does this work for you?

$FirstName = "Training"
$Pwd1 = "Training"
$Pwd2 = "#5076"
$repeat = 1 #Change this to 50
$Groups = "Training","Remote"
$UserPath = "OU=Training,OU=ABC_Users,DC=ABC,DC=local"
$GroupPath = "OU=ABC_Groups,DC=ABC,DC=local"

1..$repeat |
    ForEach-Object{
        $FnCount = "{0}{1}" -f $FirstName, $_
        $PwdCount = ConvertTo-SecureString ("{0}{1}{2}" -f $Pwd1, $_, $Pwd2) -AsPlainText -Force

        $UserObject = @{
            AccountPassword = $PwdCount
            Name = $FnCount
            GivenName = $FnCount
            PasswordNeverExpires = $True
            Path = $UserPath
            SamAccountname = $FnCount
            UserPrincipalName = "{0}@ABC.local" -f $FnCount
            Enabled = $True
            DisplayName = $FnCount
            CannotChangePassword = $True
        }
        $g = ""    # Used in catch block
        try{
            $u = New-ADUser @UserObject -ErrorAction STOP
            #Add account to groups
            ForEach ($group in $Groups){
                $g = Get-ADGroup -Server "abc.local" -SearchBase $GroupPath -Filter "name -like '$group'"
                if ($null -ne $g){
                    $g | Add-ADGroupMember -Members $u.distinguishedName -ErrorAction STOP
                }
                else{
                    Write-Host "could not find '$group'" -ForegroundColor Red
                }
            }
        }
        catch{
            Write-Host "Failed to create user '$fncount', or failed to add $fncount to group $($g.distinguishedName)" -ForegroundColor Red
            Write-Host $_
        }   
    }