How Can I Retrieve User Data (Username, First Name, Last Name) from Active Directory Using C#?

Retrieve User Data from Active Directory

Introduction:
Accessing user information from Active Directory (AD) is an essential task in many IT environments. This guide provides a comprehensive solution for obtaining a list of users, including their usernames, first names, and last names.

Background on Active Directory:
Active Directory is an LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) server that organizes objects hierarchically, similar to a file system. Each object has a distinguished name (DN) that uniquely identifies it in the directory.

Querying Active Directory using LDAP:
There are several methods for querying AD in .NET. One convenient option is to use PrincipalSearcher from the System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement namespace.

Example Query:
The following code demonstrates a query that retrieves the necessary user information:

using System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement;

PrincipalContext context = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, "yourdomain.com");
PrincipalSearcher searcher = new PrincipalSearcher(new UserPrincipal(context));
foreach (var result in searcher.FindAll())
{
    DirectoryEntry de = result.GetUnderlyingObject() as DirectoryEntry;
    Console.WriteLine("First Name: " + de.Properties["givenName"].Value);
    Console.WriteLine("Last Name : " + de.Properties["sn"].Value);
    Console.WriteLine("SAM account name   : " + de.Properties["samAccountName"].Value);
    Console.WriteLine("User principal name: " + de.Properties["userPrincipalName"].Value);
    Console.WriteLine();
}

Explanation:

• Distinguished Name: The distinguished name of the AD object can be obtained using de.Properties["distinguishedName"].Value.
• First Name: The givenName attribute provides the first name of the user.
• Last Name: The sn attribute represents the last name of the user.
• User Logon Name: AD has two logon names: samAccountName and userPrincipalName. samAccountName is the pre-Windows 2000 user logon name, while userPrincipalName is generally used post-Windows 2000.

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