Bulk Resetting Active Directory User Passwords

 

In your Active Directory environment, resetting the passwords of many users in bulk can be a crucial task to adhere to security policies and keep user accounts secure. In this article, I will demonstrate how to reset the passwords of users in Active Directory in bulk using PowerShell scripts.

Preparing the PowerShell Environment:

To operate in Active Directory, you can utilize PowerShell. Start a PowerShell session and import the necessary Active Directory module with the following commands:

Import-Module ActiveDirectory

Resetting Passwords:

Resetting Passwords Based on Organizational Unit (OU):

To reset user passwords in bulk, you can use the following PowerShell script. This script changes the passwords of all users with a specified password:

$NewPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString -String "NewPassword" -AsPlainText -Force
$Users = Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase "OU=Users,DC=Example,DC=com"  # Specify the OU where users are located

foreach ($User in $Users) {
    Set-ADAccountPassword -Identity $User -NewPassword $NewPassword -Reset
    Set-AdUser $User -ChangePasswordAtLogon:$true
}

Make sure to replace "NewPassword" with the desired new password and update the "OU=Users,DC=Example,DC=com" part according to the Organizational Unit (OU) where your users are located.

Resetting Passwords Based on Group Membership:

To reset passwords based on group membership, identify users belonging to a specific group and assign new passwords using the following PowerShell script:

$NewPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString -String "NewPassword" -AsPlainText -Force
$GroupName = "TargetGroup"  # Specify the name of the target group for resetting passwords

# Get all members of the target group
$GroupMembers = Get-ADGroupMember -Identity $GroupName

foreach ($Member in $GroupMembers) {
    if ($Member.objectClass -eq "user") {
        $User = Get-ADUser -Identity $Member
        Set-ADAccountPassword -Identity $User -NewPassword $NewPassword -Reset
        Set-AdUser $User -ChangePasswordAtLogon:$true
    }
}

Replace "NewPassword" with your desired new password and update "TargetGroup" with the name of the group whose passwords you want to reset. This script retrieves all members of the target group and resets their passwords if they are user accounts.

Security and Permissions:

The password reset operation should be performed under appropriate security and permission controls. Before running PowerShell scripts, ensure you have the necessary permissions and proper authorization for the operations.

Conclusion:

In this article, you've learned how to reset the passwords of users in bulk in Active Directory. You can use this process regularly or in alignment with security policies. Automating this process with PowerShell scripts can make your administration more efficient and reliable.

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