How can I export the users of an OU and its child OUs?

Question

I have an OU with many children and I don't want to mnaully export a hundred objects and compile the users in a list. I have the below script that runs without error, but exports an empty file. Can someone help me to know what's wrong with it?

# Define the path and file name for the CSV export 
$ExportPath = "C:\temp\OU-Export.csv"

# Create an array to store the OU data
$OUs = @()

# Set the FGH OU distinguished name manually
$OU = "OU=FGH,DC=FGH,DC=local"

# Get all of the child OUs of the FGH OU
$Searcher = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher
$Searcher.Filter = "(&(objectClass=organizationalUnit)(parentDN=$OU))"
$Searcher.SearchScope = "OneLevel"
$Results = $Searcher.FindAll()

# Loop through the child OUs and get the users within
foreach ($Result in $Results) {
    $ChildOU = $Result.Properties.distinguishedname
    $Searcher.Filter = "(&(objectClass=user)(objectCategory=person)(memberof:1.2.840.113556.1.4.1941:=$ChildOU))"
    $Users = $Searcher.FindAll()

    # Add the child OU and user data to the array
    foreach ($User in $Users) {
        $UserProperties = @{
            "OU" = $ChildOU
            "Name" = $User.Properties.samaccountname
            "Description" = $User.Properties.description
            "Email" = $User.Properties.mail
        }
        $OUs += New-Object PSObject -Property $UserProperties
    }
}

# Export the array to a CSV file
$OUs | Export-Csv -Path $ExportPath -NoTypeInformation

Answer 1

Hi,

Have you tried running the query with the Get-Aduser cmdlet? You can specify a base OU and it returns child objects,

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer"

# Define the path and file name for the CSV export 
$ExportPath = "C:\OU-Export.csv"

# Create an array to store the OU data
$OUs = @()

# Set the FGH OU distinguished name manually
$OU = "OU=FGH,DC=FGH,DC=local"

# Get all of the child OUs of the FGH OU
$Searcher = Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase $OU -Properties * | select *
    
foreach ($User in $Searcher) {
        $UserProperties = @{
            "OU" = $User.DistinguishedName
            "Name" = $User.Name
            "Description" = $User.description
            "Email" = $User.mail
        }
        $OUs += New-Object PSObject -Property $UserProperties

}

# Export the array to a CSV file
$OUs | Export-Csv -Path $ExportPath -NoTypeInformation

Answer 2

Have you tried getting the results with the Get-Aduser cmdlet and Searchscope? You can specify a base OU and it returns the child objects:

# Define the path and file name for the CSV export 
$ExportPath = "C:\OU-Export.csv"

# Create an array to store the OU data
$OUs = @()

# Set the FGH OU distinguished name manually
$OU = "OU=FGH,DC=FGH,DC=local"

# Get all of the child OUs of the FGH OU
$Searcher = Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase $OU -Properties * | select *

# Loop through the child OUs and get the users within
    # Add the child OU and user data to the array
foreach ($User in $Searcher) {
        $UserProperties = @{
            "OU" = $User.DistinguishedName
            "Name" = $User.Name
            "Description" = $User.description
            "Email" = $User.mail
        }
        $OUs += New-Object PSObject -Property $UserProperties

}

# Export the array to a CSV file
$OUs | Export-Csv -Path $ExportPath -NoTypeInformation

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer"

Answer 3

This will get the users in the $OU organizational unit and all of the children of the $OU organizational unit. The setting of the "-SearchScope" parameter of the Get-ADUser cmdlet takes care of that.

The Organizational Unit is separated from the users' distinguishedName by a regular expression that also correctly handles any embedded commas in the CN portion of the distinguishedName.

It doesn't need any intermediate storage in arrays, but relies only on the use of PowerShells' pipeline.

# Define the path and file name for the CSV export 
$ExportPath = "C:\temp\OU-Export.csv"

# Set the FGH OU distinguished name manually
$OU = "OU=FGH,DC=FGH,DC=local"

Get-ADUser -Filter * -Properties Description,Email -SearchBase = $OU -SearchScope Subtree |
    ForEach-Object{
        [PSCustomObject]@{
            "OU" = $_.distinguishedName -replace '^CN=.+?(?<!\\),(.+)$','$1'  # get all EXCEPT CN value
            "Name" = $_.samaccountname
            "Description" = $_.description
            "Email" = $_.mail
        }
    } | Export-Csv -Path $ExportPath -NoTypeInformation