DS utilities

If you prefer using command line tools to graphical tools, then you probably weren't very satisfied
with the tools available for Windows 2000. Fortunately, Microsoft has made big strides with
Windows Server 2003. You can add, modify, remove, and query objects using the new DS
command line utilities.

Here is the list of DS utilities that are available as part of the Windows Server 2003 in the
%systemroot%\system32 directory:

dsadd.exe

With the dsadd command, you can create computer, contact, group, OU, user and quota objects.
To view the attributes you can set when creating an object, run "dsadd <type> /?" from the
command line where <type> is one of the object types dsadd supports (e.g., user).

dsget.exe

With the dsget command, you can view the attributes of computer, contact, subnet, group, OU,
site, server, user, quota, and partition objects. To view the attributes you can display for an object
type, run "dsget <type> /?" from the command line where <type> is one of the object types
dsget supports (e.g., ou).

dsmod.exe

With the dsmod command, you can modify computer, contact, group, OU, user, server, quota and
partition objects. To view the attributes you can set when modifying an object, run "dsmod
<type> /?" from the command line where <type> is one of the object types dsmod supports
(e.g., computer).

dsmove.exe

The dsmove command allows you to move objects within a domain.

dsrm.exe

The dsrm command allows you to remove individual objects or containers and all child objects.

dsquery.exe

With the dsquery command, you can search Active Directory for specific object types (computer,
contact, subnet, group, OU, site, server, user, quota, and partition objects). View the help
information for each object type (e.g., run "dsquery user /?") to see the attributes you can
search on. You can also perform generic LDAP queries using the "dsquery *" command.