Bulk user import/export using CSVDE - great resource

[ajbritton]

Just noticed the CSVDE pages over at ComputerPerformance.co.uk. Looks very useful for those who need to bulk import/export user accounts. CSVDE is 2003 only though

[ITWombat]

Are you sure? OK then what was that thing I was using two years ago on a Windows 2000 network?

[plexer]

only drawback is csvde can't set passwords.

Ben

[ITWombat]

Just use the same CSV to feed usernames to net user.

There three steps:

CSVDE to create accounts
then a foreach for the following two commands
net user %1 password
net user %1 /active:yes

Accounts should be disabled by default and won' be enabled until the account meets the password policy for the domain.

[Ric_]

There's a VBScript on that site that will set all your passwords too.

I used CSVDE this year to create my accounts and it was extremley easy to do.

[ITWombat]

I've been meaning to switch to LDIFE but now dsadd is here it's probably not worth the bother.

[CyberNerd]

CSVDE is 2003 only though

MS say its good for 2000: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=327620

[ChrisH]

CSVDE is in the 2000 course track. Will obviously have been an older version.

[mark]

I've always used CSVDE on 2000 and 2003 severs - It's simple, quick and I know it works.

I set passwords to surnames. Export usernames and names into a spreadsheet and add the net user command.

[ajbritton]

Apologies everyone! Having never even used CSVDE, I misread one of the ComputerPerformance pages which seemed to say CSVDE was for use on 2003 only. I stand corrected. Since it works on 2K and 2K3 then the CP pages look like an even more useful resource for those trying to do bulk user creation for the first time. (That's who I guess my original post was aimed at, but I appreciate those who have set me right.)

Protocol question: Should I edit the original post to correct my error? Again, I'm thinking of those admins seeking methods of bulk user creation.

[Gibson335]

I need to use this tool to create a list of parent contact e-mail addresses for Exchange, but can it also create Distribution Groups? The idea being that I can bulk import into a mailing group at the same time. Otherwise I may have 1000 contacts which have to be placed manually into a DG.

Any thoughts?

[Wiseman82]

Some people might find this useful as an alternative to CSVDE. It's an app I created a while ago that allows you to create users directly from Excel:
WiseSoft - Account Management. Bulk Create User Accounts with Excel Spreadsheet.

I also have an app for bulk reset of user passwords:
Bulk Password Control - Reset Passwords for Active Directory User Accounts

And an app (same one as above really) that allows you to update user attributes from CSV file, or use Microsoft Excel to edit user account data. You can see some of these features in action in the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVcA8OLCTUY

They are all freeware apps.