ADSI Edit – View and Manage Active Directory Object Properties

Active Directory Editor Interface (ADSI Edit) is a Light Access editor (LDAP) editor that you can use to manage objects and attributes in Active Directory. ADSI Edit (adsiedit.msc) provides a view of each object and attribute in the Active Directory forest.

Adsiedit.msc: is GUI tool is the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in which functions as a low-level Active Directory editor. Network administrators can use Active Directory Interfaces (ADSI) for general administrative tasks, such as adding, deleting, and moving objects using Directory Services. The attributes of each object that is displayed or deleted can be changed.

You can use ADSI Edit to request, view and edit attributes that are not displayed by other snap-ins in the Active Directory Microsoft Management Console (MMC): Active Directory Users and Computers, Active Directory Domains and Services, Active Directory Domains and Trusts.

In this article, we will discuss how to install the ADSI Edit utility on Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and the above operating system.

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How to Install ADSI Edit on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Follow the below steps to install ADSI Edit on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

  1. Go to Start –>Control Panel –>Programs –>Programs and Features –> Click on Turn Windows features on or off.
  2. In the Server Manager dialog window, select Features and then click Add Features.
  3. Navigate to Remote Server Administration Tools –>Role Administration Tools and select AD DS and AD LDS Tools.
  4. Click on the Next button to proceed.
  5. Click on Install.

Cool Tip: Learn about Active Directory Schema!

How to Install ADSI Edit on Windows Server 2012 and Above Operating System

Follow the below steps to install ADSI Edit on Windows Server 2012 and above.

  1. Go to Start –>Control Panel –>Programs –>Programs and Features –> Click on Turn Windows features on or off.
  2. Navigate to Features (left pane) in the Add Roles and Features Wizard dialog.
  3. Navigate to Remote Server Administration Tools –>Role Administration Tools and select AD DS and AD LDS Tools.
  4. Click on the Next button to proceed.
  5. Click on Install.

Cool Tip: How to use Dsquery command-line utility in PowerShell!

Conclusion

I hope the above article on the ADSI Edit utility to view and manage Active Directory object attributes is helpful to you.

There are many tools that allow viewing and editing Active Directory and the ADSI Edit tool uses the LDAP or ADSI API to access Active Directory.

ADSI Edit provides a graphical user interface for viewing and making changes to Active Directory. Many ADSIEdit features are similar to Active Directory users and the Computer snap-in, but ADSIEdit provides low-level Active Directory information for ADSI Edit Download.

ADSI Edit Download (adsiedit.msc) is valid for: Windows SBS 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2012.

You can find more topics about Active Directory tools and PowerShell basics on the ActiveDirectoryTools home page.