Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) is a Microsoft Management Console snap-in that you use to administer Active Directory (AD). You can manage objects (users, computers), Organizational Units (OU), and attributes of each. Show
ADUC is one of the many tools that you can use to administer AD, but since it has been around since Windows 2000, it is one of the most popular. Read on to see how to run and use ADUC to manage AD. How Do I Add Active Directory Users and Computers?Some of you might have already looked for ADUC on your laptop to discover that it’s not there. It’s not part of the default installation, and how you get it installed depends on your version of Windows. In current versions of Windows, ADUC is part of an administrative suite of tools called Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT). Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT)In an October 2018 update, Microsoft moved all of the Active Directory administration tools to a ‘feature on demand’ called RSAT. Attackers use whatever they can for privilege escalations and exfiltration. They don’t need RSAT to do major damage to your network, but it sure makes it easier! If an attacker got hold of a computer with ADUC installed, they could just change passwords and access rights at will. That would be very bad. Anyway, if you want to access ADUC on your computer, you need to install RSAT. ADUC is not part of the default installation for any Windows version. Follow the instructions below to install: Installing ADUC for Windows 10 Version 1809 and Above
Installing ADUC for Windows 8 and Windows 10 Version 1803 and Below
Troubleshooting RSAT InstallationThere are two common installation issues to check if something goes sideways and you can’t get RSAT installed. First, check that you have enabled Windows Firewall. RSAT uses the Windows Update backend and thus needs Windows Firewall enabled. Sometimes after the install, you might be missing tabs and such. Uninstall and reinstall. You might have had an older version and the update didn’t work 100%. You can also right click on ADUC in the Start menu and verify the shortcut is pointing to %SystemRoot%\system32\dsa.msc. If it doesn’t point there then you need to uninstall and reinstall for sure.
Active Directory gets really complicated really quickly and it's nearly impossible to sort out what the correct permissions and groups are for any given user. What is Active Directory Users and Computers Used For?ADUC can cover most of your AD admin responsibilities. The most important missing task is probably managing GPOs, but you can do most everything else in ADUC. With ADUC, you can manage the FSMO server roles, reset passwords, unlock users, change group memberships, and too many more to list. There are other tools in RSAT you can also use to manage AD.
Now let’s look at a few different use cases for ADUC.
ADUC for Delegating ControlScenario: You are looking to limit the sysadmin team’s responsibility to manage specific domains in your network. You would like to assign two sysadmins per domain, a primary and a backup. Here is how you would do this:
ADUC for Adding New Users to DomainNext we will look at how to add a new user to the domain.
ADUC for Adding a New GroupAnd to create a new group, follow these steps:
The more you know about the intricacies of AD the better prepared you are to defend it. Varonis monitors and automates the tasks users perform with ADUC. Varonis provides a full audit log of any AD events (users added, logged in, group changes, GPO changes, etc.) and compares the current activity to a baseline of normalized behavior over time. Any new activity that looks like a cyberattack (brute force, ticket harvesting, privilege escalations, and more) triggers alerts that help protect your network from compromise and data breach. Additionally, Varonis enables your data owners with the power to control who has access to their data. Varonis automates the process to request, approve, and audit data access. It’s a simple but elegant solution to a huge and increasingly important problem. Want to see all the ways Varonis can help you manage and secure AD? Check out this on-demand webinar: 25 Key Risk Indicators to Help You Secure Active Directory. |