Powershell error positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument

Question

Greetings,
I'm trying to create a simple ps script that will clear telephone number from a large user group in AD, pulling from a csv file however keep getting this error and not sure where or why it is failing...I'd appreciate the feedback or any assistance you could provide. Cheers.

$users = Import-Csv -Path C:\user.csv
foreach ($user in $users) {
Get-ADUser $user.SamAccountName -Properties * -SearchBase 'ou=Users,DC=cotm,DC=local' | Set-ADUser -Clear telephone
}

ERROR:

Get-ADUser : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'fletterman'.
At C:\phone.ps1:5 char:1

• Get-ADUser $user.SamAccountName -Properties * -SearchBase 'ou=...
• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Get-ADUser], ParameterBindingException
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.Commands.GetADUser
  Get-ADUser : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'gramone'.
  At C:\phone.ps1:5 char:1
• Get-ADUser $user.SamAccountName -Properties * -SearchBase 'ou=...
• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Get-ADUser], ParameterBindingException
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.Commands.GetADUser

Answer 1

Hi，

You need to use the -filter parameter to specify an ADUser property and the attribute should be "telephonenumber", not "telephone"

foreach ($user in $users) {  
    $sam = $user.SamAccountName  
    Get-ADUser -Filter {SamAccountName -eq $sam} -Properties * -SearchBase 'ou=Users,DC=cotm,DC=local' | Set-ADUser -Clear telephonenumber  
}  

Best Regards，
Ian Xue

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Answer 2

Because you used the -SearchBase parameter you cannot use the -Identity parameter. The -Identity parameter accepts a unique identifier -- there's no search for a match as there is with a -Filter or -LDAPFilter, so you can't specify where in the AD to look. The error is the result of there being three different parameter sets for the Get-ADUser cmdlet and you've used a parameter that excludes the use of the -Identity parameter.