Obtaining the password expiration date for Active Directory (AD) users is a valuable task for system administrators as it aids in managing and scheduling password changes to keep users’ accounts secure. In this article, I will walk you through the steps of using PowerShell to retrieve the password expiration date of AD users.
Prerequisites
Before we begin, make sure you have the following:
- A Windows machine with PowerShell installed.
- Active Directory Module for PowerShell installed.
- Domain Administrator privileges.
Step 1: Launch PowerShell
To start, open PowerShell with administrative privileges. You can do this by right-clicking on the PowerShell icon and selecting “Run as administrator.”
Step 2: Import Active Directory Module
Once PowerShell is open, we need to import the Active Directory module. Run the following command:
Import-Module ActiveDirectory
Step 3: Connect to Active Directory Domain
Next, we need to establish a connection to the Active Directory domain. Run the following command:
$domain = "yourdomain.com"
$username = "yourusername"
$password = "yourpassword"
$securePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $password -AsPlainText -Force
$cred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential($username, $securePassword)
Connect-ADServiceAccount -Credential $cred -Domain $domain
Replace “yourdomain.com” with the domain you want to connect to. Similarly, replace “yourusername” and “yourpassword” with the appropriate credentials.
Step 4: Get Password Expiration Date
Now that we are connected to the Active Directory domain, we can retrieve the password expiration date for a specific user. Run the following command:
$expireDate = (Get-ADUser -Identity "username" -Properties "PasswordExpired", "PasswordLastSet", "PasswordNeverExpires").PasswordLastSet.AddDays(PasswordExpirationInDays)
Replace “username” with the username of the AD user you want to get the password expiration date for. Optionally, you can replace “PasswordExpirationInDays” with the number of days until the password expires, if known.
Step 5: Display the Password Expiration Date
Finally, we can display the password expiration date in a user-friendly format. Run the following command:
$expireDate.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy")
This will present the password expiration date in a readable format, such as “mm/dd/yyyy.”
Conclusion
Obtaining the password expiration date for AD users is a crucial task for system administrators. With the help of PowerShell and the Active Directory module, we can easily retrieve this information and ensure strong security practices. By knowing when passwords are due to expire, we can proactively manage user accounts and maintain a secure AD environment.