DirectorySearcher.SearchRoot Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.DirectoryServices

Assembly:

System.DirectoryServices.dll

Gets or sets a value indicating the node in the Active Directory Domain Services hierarchy where the search starts.

public:
 property System::DirectoryServices::DirectoryEntry ^ SearchRoot { System::DirectoryServices::DirectoryEntry ^ get(); void set(System::DirectoryServices::DirectoryEntry ^ value); };

public System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry? SearchRoot { get; set; }

member this.SearchRoot : System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry with get, set

Public Property SearchRoot As DirectoryEntry

Property Value

DirectoryEntry

The DirectoryEntry object in the Active Directory Domain Services hierarchy where the search starts. The default is a null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

Remarks

If SearchRoot is a null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), the search root is set to the root of the domain that your server is currently using.

There are several ways to search in the global catalog:

• Enumerate the global catalog and pick the first child.

• Specify the server name. Use the DsGetDcName function to find the global catalog. For more information on the DsGetDcName function, see the DsGetDcName.

• Get the RootDSE of the global catalog and ask for "rootNamingContext".

• Use the global catalog, specifying a search path as if using LDAP. For example, "GC://OU=..., DC=..., DC=...".

• The following C# code shows how to enumerate the global catalog and pick the first child.

  DirectoryEntry entry = new DirectoryEntry("GC://forestname");  
  IEnumerator ie = entry.Children.GetEnumerator();  
  ie.MoveNext();  
  entry = (DirectoryEntry)ie.Current;  
  DirectorySearcher search = new DirectorySearcher(entry);