Automating the Creation of Computer Accounts in Windows 2000

ID: q222525

This article discusses a Beta release of a Microsoft product. The information in this article is provided as-is and is subject to change without notice.

No formal product support is available from Microsoft for this Beta product. For information about obtaining support for a Beta release, please see the documentation included with the Beta product files, or check the Web location from which you downloaded the release.
The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

This article describes how to automate the creation of computer accounts. Two methods are described:


MORE INFORMATION

Creating Computer Accounts Using NETDOM

NOTE: Only the Windows 2000 version of NETDOM, included with the Windows 2000 Resource Kit, should be used. Previous versions do not work correctly for all features in Windows 2000.

You can use NETDOM from the command line (or optionally called from a batch file) to script computer account creation using the syntax listed below. This sample creates only the computer account and displays how credentials of an authorized user who has permissions to create computer accounts in the domain can be specified.
NETDOM /Domain:MYDOMAIN /user:adminuser /password:apassword MEMBER MYCOMPUTER /ADD
For more information about using NETDOM, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q150493 How To Join a Domain From the Command Line

Scripting the Computer Account Using ADSI and Windows Script Host

Using Active Directory Services Interfaces (ADSI) and Windows Script Host (WSH), an administrator can create a Visual Basic Script (VBScript) to automate the creation of computer accounts.

For more information about Visual Basic Scripting, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
msdn.microsoft.com/scripting
To use this method, create a script as outlined in the sample script listed below and then save the file with a .vbs extension. To run the file, double-click it or type cscript myscript.vbs at a command prompt.

Sample Script


'***********************
'* Start Script
'***********************

Dim sComputerName, sUserOrGroup, sPath, computerContainer, rootDSE, lFlag
Dim secDescriptor, dACL, ACE, oComputer, sPwd

'*********************************************************************
'* Declare constants used in defining the default location for the 
'* machine account, flags to identify the object as a machine account,
'* and security flags
'*********************************************************************

Const UF_WORKSTATION_TRUST_ACCOUNT = &H1000
Const UF_ACCOUNTDISABLE = &H2
Const UF_PASSWD_NOTREQD = &H20
Const ADS_GUID_COMPUTRS_CONTAINER = "aa312825768811d1aded00c04fd8d5cd"
Const ADS_ACETYPE_ACCESS_ALLOWED = 0
Const ADS_ACEFLAG_INHERIT_ACE = 2

'*********************************************************************
'* Set the flags on this object to identify it as a machine account
'* and determine the name.  The name is used statically here, but may 
'* be determined by a command line parameter or by using an InputBox
'*********************************************************************

lFlag = UF_WORKSTATION_TRUST_ACCOUNT Or UF_ACCOUNTDISABLE Or UF_PASSWD_NOTREQD
sComputerName = "TestAccount"

'*********************************************************************
'* Establish a path to the container in the Active Directory where
'* the machine account will be created.  In this example, this will
'* automatically locate a domain controller for the domain, read the 
'* domain name, and bind to the default "Computers" container
'*********************************************************************

Set rootDSE = GetObject("LDAP://RootDSE")
sPath = "LDAP://<WKGUID=" & ADS_GUID_COMPUTRS_CONTAINER
sPath = sPath + ","
sPath = sPath + rootDSE.Get("defaultNamingContext")
sPath = sPath + ">"
Set computerContainer = GetObject(sPath)
sPath = "LDAP://" & computerContainer.Get("distinguishedName")
Set computerContainer = GetObject(sPath)

'*********************************************************************
'* Here, the computer account is created.  Certain attributes must
'* have a value before calling .SetInfo to commit (write) the object
'* to the Active Directory
'*********************************************************************

Set oComputer = computerContainer.Create("computer", "CN=" & sComputerName)
oComputer.Put "samAccountName", sComputerName + "$"
oComputer.Put "userAccountControl", lFlag
oComputer.SetInfo

'*********************************************************************
'* Establish a default password for the machine account
'*********************************************************************

sPwd = sComputerName & "$"
sPwd = LCase(sPwd)
oComputer.SetPassword sPwd

'*********************************************************************
'* Specify which user or group may activate/join this computer to the 
'* domain.  In this example, "MYDOMAIN" is the domain name and
'* "JoeSmith" is the account being given the permission.  Note that 
'* this is the downlevel naming convention used in this example.
'*********************************************************************

sUserOrGroup = "MYDOMAIN\joesmith"

'*********************************************************************
'* Bind to the Discretionary ACL on the newly created computer account
'* and create an Access Control Entry (ACE) that gives the specified
'* user or group full control on the machine account
'*********************************************************************

Set secDescriptor = oComputer.Get("ntSecurityDescriptor")
Set dACL = secDescriptor.DiscretionaryAcl
Set ACE = CreateObject("AccessControlEntry")

'*********************************************************************
'* An AccessMask of "-1" grants Full Control
'*********************************************************************

ACE.AccessMask = -1
ACE.AceType = ADS_ACETYPE_ACCESS_ALLOWED
ACE.AceFlags = ADS_ACEFLAG_INHERIT_ACE

'*********************************************************************
'* Grant this control to the user or group specified earlier.
'*********************************************************************

ACE.Trustee = sUserOrGroup

'*********************************************************************
'* Now, add this ACE to the DACL on the machine account
'*********************************************************************

dACL.AddAce ACE
secDescriptor.DiscretionaryAcl = dACL

'*********************************************************************
'* Commit (write) the security changes to the machine account
'*********************************************************************

oComputer.Put "ntSecurityDescriptor", Array(secDescriptor)
oComputer.SetInfo

'*********************************************************************
'* Once all parameters and permissions have been set, enable the 
'* account.
'*********************************************************************

oComputer.AccountDisabled = False
oComputer.SetInfo

'*********************************************************************
'* Create an Access Control Entry (ACE) that gives the specified user 
'* or group full control on the machine account
'*********************************************************************

wscript.echo "The command completed successfully."

'*****************
'* End Script
'*****************

Additional query words: 


Keywords          : kbtool ntdomain 
Version           : WINDOWS:2000
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: July 27, 1999