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Bulk Reset AD passwords to unique passwords

Hello,

I've been searching EE & google for a script that would allow me to reset AD passwords to unique passwords and not something generic for all users. In other words, here's what I'm trying to accomplish:

Name DOB (password)
Joe Smith --> 09171965
Mary Sue --> 12251971

I've come across VBscripts that prompt the administrator for the user to have his/her password reset, and while this would work for one user, it wouldn't work for many users as I'm trying to automate the process. I will be creating a large number of users and here's my idea:

1. Use a script to create and enable the user accounts with a generic password (got this step)
2. Place all users created in step #1 into a specific OU (got this step)
3. Create a file (.csv,.txt, etc) with user names (or sAMaccount, DN, etc.) and passwords.
3. Run a script against the OU in step #2 and have the script read the file in step #3 so that it can reset the passwords accordingly.

Any guidance on how to accomplish the above will be much appreciated. Thanks.

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Joseph Daly

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Joseph Daly

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bndit

ASKER

Thanks, that does explain it better. Just for my own knowledge...what scripting language is this? and is there a link that you can refer me to so that I can understand the various arguments you're using. I like to understand as much as possible things that I run :). I'll be testing this on my test environment and I'll get back to you on the outcome.

thanks,

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Joseph Daly

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bdibene

You mentioned that you know how to have a VBScript prompt the Admin to change the User password.
Do you need to set the passwords to something you know, or would it be OK to just prompt all the Users and force them to change their own passwords? This can be done with Group Policy (Computer Config-->Windows Settings-->Security Settings-->Account Policies-->Password Policy).

bndit

ASKER

I want to change the passwords to something known but unique to each user such as their employee #. I'm trying to stay away from turning the "change password at next logon" flag - this might be against best practice when creating a new user account, but it's necessary in my circumstances. The password policy applied at the domain level will take care of forcing them to reset the password at a later time.

artoaperjan

hi
this is a good request i can use this too. if u want i can script for u a VBScript which will do all the 4 steps you have above but we woud need to agree on how r u going to supply the user details.
if you can put all in a txt all above steps can be done automaticaly.

Art

bndit

ASKER

Hi Art - thanks for offering to script this out. I'm providing you with a small text file that contains about five users...this should be enough to get the script working. Take a look at the txt file and let me know if it works. The only column that you won't find in it will be the password as I don't believe that can be imported into AD but rather you'll take care of it with the script. Let me know. Thanks again.
User-bulk-create2.txt

bndit

ASKER

thanks