Microsoft KB Archive/811509

= HOW TO: Use DsFind with Attributes that Require Distinguished Name Syntaxes =

PSS ID Number: 811509

Article Last Modified on 12/19/2003

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 64-Bit Datacenter Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 64-Bit Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Premium Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Standard Edition

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IN THIS TASK

 * SUMMARY
 * Perform an Advanced Search
 * List of Objects and their Attributes that Require a Distinguished Name as a Value



SUMMARY
When you perform an advanced search, for some objects' attributes you must know the distinguished name (also known as DN) of the object that you are searching against. Every object is stored in the directory database according to its relative distinguished name (also known as RDN) and parent identifier. Therefore, if you know the relative distinguished name of an object, you can determine the full distinguished name by following the references to the parent objects and finally to the root object. For example, the distinguished name of a user object might be

cn=UserName,ou=OrganizationalUnit,dc=DomainName,...dc=DomainName

, where the series of relative distinguished names (dc=DomainName) identifies the DNS domain of the object.

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Perform an Advanced Search

 * 1) In Active Directory Users and Computers, right-click the domain name that is at the top of the hierarchy.
 * 2) From the Context menu, click Find.
 * 3) From the Find combo box, click the object that you want to search for (for example, Users, contacts, and groups, Computers, Printers, and others).
 * 4) If multiple domains exist through trusts, you can use the In combo box to select a different domain.
 * 5) Click the Advanced tab.
 * 6) Click to select a field from the list.
 * 7) If the Condition: drop-down list does not include either the Starts with or the Ends with options, the Value: box may have to contain the distinguished name of the object you are searching for. View the list of objects later in this article for more information.
 * 8) Type the value.
 * 9) Click Add to add the search condition to the list.
 * 10) Repeat steps 6 - 9 to add all the search conditions to the list.
 * 11) After the list is complete, click Find now to generate a list of all the objects that meet the specified conditions.

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List of Objects and Their Attributes that Require a Distinguished Name as a Value
Users and contacts: Direct reports, manager, member of, X500 Distinguished Name.

Groups: Managed by, members, X500 Distinguished Name

Computers: Managed by Printers

Contact Shared folders: Managed by

Organizational Unit: Managed by

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Keywords: kbActiveDirectory kbHOWTOmaster kbhowto KB811509

Technology: kbSBServ2003Pre kbSBServ2003Search kbSBServ2003St kbSBServSearch kbWinServ2003Data kbWinServ2003Data64bit kbWinServ2003Data64bitSearch kbWinServ2003DataSearch kbWinServ2003Ent kbWinServ2003Ent64bit kbWinServ2003Ent64bitSearch kbWinServ2003EntSearch kbWinServ2003Search kbWinServ2003St

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