Microsoft KB Archive/186749

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How to Use the Adsvw Tool to Browse an Active Directory

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Q186749

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

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SUMMARY
You can use the Active Directory Services Viewer (Adsvw) tool to browse the structure of an Active Directory. This article describes how to use the Adsvw tool to navigate the Active Directory tree and query for specific objects or containers that reside in the directory.

MORE INFORMATION
When you use the Adsvw tool to browse or query an Active Directory tree, proper authentication is critical. If you do not specify credentials with the command that you use, the credentials of the currently logged on user are used.

To start the Adsvw tool, follow these steps:


 * 1) Click Start, and then click Run.
 * 2) Type "adsvw" (without quotation marks), and then click OK.

If the computer you want to monitor is located in a different domain, you may need to supply alternate credentials to make the connection.

To supply alternate credentials with any of the commands listed in this article, use the following steps in addition to the steps for the command:

 Start the Adsvw tool. On the File menu, click New, click ObjectViewer, and then click OK. Click the Use OpenObject check box to select it.  In the Open As box, type the user identification (ID) using the format "NetbiosDomainName\user" or by referencing the common name (CN) and the domain component (DC) of the object. For example, to use the "administrator" account from the "microsoft.com" domain, type the following line: "cn=Administrator,cn=Users,dc=microsoft,dc=com" Verify that the Secure Authentication and Use Encryp check boxes are selected.

To view the available namespaces (any bounded area in which a given name can be resolved) on the current computer, follow these steps:

 Start the Adsvw tool. On the File menu, click New, click ObjectViewer, and then click OK.</li>  In the Enter Ads Path box, type the following line: "ads:"</li> Click OK.</li></ol>

To view the domain container and its contents for a Windows NT 5.0 domain, follow these steps:

NOTE: In this and following examples, the term "LDAP" is case sensitive and should be typed as shown.

 Start the Adsvw tool.</li> On the File menu, click New, click ObjectViewer, and then click OK.</li>  In the Enter Ads Path box, use the format "LDAP://" followed by the X.500 string notation for the domain name. For example, to view the domain "microsoft.com," type the following line: "LDAP://dc=microsoft,dc=com"</li></ol>

To view the contents of a specific object or container, follow these steps:

 Start the Adsvw tool.</li> On the File menu, click New, click ObjectViewer, and then click OK.</li>  In the Enter Ads Path box, use the format "LDAP://" followed by the X.500 string notation for the object or container and then the domain name. For example, to start browsing in the "Users" container on the "microsoft.com" domain, type the following line: "LDAP://cn=Users,dc=microsoft,dc=com"</li></ol>

To view the contents of an object or container on a specific computer, follow these steps:

 Start the Adsvw tool.</li> On the File menu, click New, click ObjectViewer, and then click OK.</li>  In the Enter Ads Path box, use the format "LDAP:// :389/" followed by the the X.500 string notation for the object or container and then the domain name. For example, to start browsing in the "Users" container on the "myserver" server in the "microsoft.com" domain, type the following line: "LDAP://myserver:389/cn=Users,dc=microsoft,dc=com"</li></ol>

To view the contents of an organizational unit, follow these steps:

 Start the Adsvw tool.</li> <li>On the File menu, click New, click ObjectViewer, and then click OK.</li> <li> In the Enter Ads Path box, use the format "LDAP://" followed by the X.500 string notation for the organizational unit and then the domain name. For example, to browse the "MyFirstOU" organizational unit, type the following line: "LDAP://ou=MyFirstOU,dc=microsoft,dc=com"</li></ol>

To view the contents of the configuration container for the Active Directory forest, follow these steps:

<ol> <li>Start the Adsvw tool.</li> <li>On the File menu, click New, click ObjectViewer, and then click OK.</li> <li> In the Enter Ads Path box, use the format "LDAP://" followed by the X.500 string notation for the configuration container and then the root domain name. For example, to browse the configuration container for the forest whose root domain name is "microsoft.com," type the following line: "LDAP://cn=Configuration,dc=microsoft,dc=com"</li></ol>

To use the Adsvw tool to view objects on a Windows NT 4.0 (downlevel) domain, follow these steps:


 * 1) Start the Adsvw tool.
 * 2) On the File menu, click New, click ObjectViewer, and then click OK.
 * 3) In the Enter Ads Path box, type "WinNT://<DomainName>" (without quotation marks) where <DomainName> is the NetBIOS name of the Windows NT 4.0 domain.

To view the global catalog (GC), follow these steps:


 * 1) Start the Adsvw tool.
 * 2) On the File menu, click New, click ObjectViewer, and then click OK.
 * 3) In the Enter Ads Path box, type "GC:" (without quotation marks).

To view the global catalog on a specific server, follow these steps:


 * 1) Start the Adsvw tool.
 * 2) On the File menu, click New, click ObjectViewer, and then click OK.
 * 3) In the Enter Ads Path box, type "LDAP:// :3268" (without quotation marks).

Additional query words: 5.00

Keywords : kbtool

Issue type : kbhowto

Technology : kbwin2000Serv kbwin2000ServSearch kbwin2000Search kbwin2000ProSearch kbwin2000Pro