Search Active Directory from the desktop

  2011-01-14      195 words, 1 minutes

• active directory
• ldap
• windows

That day, at work, I had to check if an application has been implemented as it should have been. The application was supposed to use Active Directory groups to filter users access to some data.

I’m no admin on my desktop ; but I had to find a “standard” way to query the corporate Active Directory. Here’s the trick.

From the Start menu, run the following command:

%SystemRoot%SYSTEM32rundll32.exe dsquery,OpenQueryWindow

This will pop-up that windows:

If you enter a name in the Name field and hit Find, it will search and show every entry that match your name search.

On the Advanced tab, you can specify more generic search.
For example, if you search every Active Directory group that start with “GG_APP”:

• Drop the Field list and select “Group » Name” ;
• In the Condition list, select “Starts with” ;
• In the Value field, enter “GG_APP” ;
• Click the Find button.

You can even enter complex LDAP search:

• In the Search list, select “Custom search” ;
• Select the Advanced tab
• In the text zone, enter your LDAP search request and hit the Findbutton.

Here’s an example of a simple complex LDAP search:

That’s all about it!