Create a new Active Directory organizational unit.
Syntax
New-ADOrganizationalUnit [-Name] string
[-AuthType {Negotiate | Basic}] [-City string] [-Country string]
[-Credential PSCredential] [-Description string]
[-DisplayName string] [-Instance ADOrganizationalUnit]
[-ManagedBy ADPrincipal] [-OtherAttributes hashtable]
[-PassThru] [-Path string] [-PostalCode string] [-ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion bool]
[-Server string] [-State string] [-StreetAddress string]
[-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [CommonParameters]
Key
-AuthType {Negotiate | Basic}
The authentication method to use: Negotiate (or 0), Basic (or 1)
A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection is required for Basic authentication.
-City string
The user's town or city.
-Country string
The country or region code for the user's language of choice.
The LDAP Display Name (ldapDisplayName) of this property is "c".
-Credential PSCredential
The user account credentials to use to perform this task.
The default credentials are those of the currently logged on user unless the
cmdlet is run from an Active Directory PowerShell provider drive.
If the cmdlet is run from such a provider drive, the account associated with the drive is the default.
Type a user name, such as "User64" or "Domain64\User64" or specify a
PSCredential object such as one generated by Get-Credential
If a user name is specified, the cmdlet will prompt for a password.
-Description string
A description of the object.
-DisplayName string
The display name of the object.
-Instance ADOrganizationalUnit
An instance of a organizational unit object to use as a template for a new OU object.
Use an instance of an existing OU object as a template or construct a
new OU object by using the PowerShell command line or by using a script.
The following examples show how to use these two methods:
Method 1: Use the Get-ADOrganizationalUnit cmdlet and then override property values of
the new object by setting the appropriate parameters.
$ouInstance = Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -Identity demoOU1
New-ADOrganizationalUnit -Name demo2 -Instance $ouInstance -Country Canada
Method 2: Use the New-ADOrganizationalUnit cmdlet and pass this object to the -Instance
parameter of New-ADOrganizationalUnit to create the new AD OU object.
$ouInstance = new-object Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADOrganizationalUnit
$ouInstance.Country = Canada
New-ADOrganizationalUnit -Name accountingCanada -Instance $ouInstance
Note: Specified attributes are not validated, so attempting to set attributes that
do not exist or cannot be set will raise an error.
-ManagedBy ADPrincipal
The user or group that manages the object by providing one of the following property values.
Note: The identifier in parentheses is the LDAP display name for the property.
Distinguished Name
Example: CN=demo1,OU=Europe,CN=Users,DC=corp,DC=ss64,DC=com
GUID (objectGUID)
Example: 599c3d2e-f72d-4d20-8a88-030d99495f20
Security Identifier (objectSid)
Example: S-1-5-64-3265277888-301567356-523410843-1244
SAM Account Name (sAMAccountName)
Example: demo1
-Name string
The name of the object.
-OtherAttributes hashtable
Object attribute values for attributes that are not represented by cmdlet parameters.
Set one or more parameters at the same time with this parameter.
If an attribute takes more than one value, you can assign multiple values.
To identify an attribute, specify the LDAPDisplayName (ldapDisplayName) defined for it in
the Active Directory schema.
Syntax:
To specify a single value for an attribute:
-OtherAttributes @{'AttributeLDAPDisplayName'=value}
To specify multiple values for an attribute
-OtherAttributes @{'AttributeLDAPDisplayName'=value1,value2,...}
Specify values for more than one attribute by using semicolons to separate attributes.
To set values for multiple attributes:
-OtherAttributes @{'Attribute1LDAPDisplayName'=value; 'Attribute2LDAPDisplayName'=value1,value2;...}
The following examples show how to use this parameter.
To set the value of a custom attribute called favColors that takes a set of Unicode strings:
-OtherAttributes @{'favColors'="pink","purple"}
To set values for favColors and dateOfBirth simultaneously, use the following syntax:
-OtherAttributes @{'favColors'="pink","purple"; 'dateOfBirth'=" 01/01/1960"}
-PassThru switch
Return the new or modified object.
By default (i.e. if -PassThru is not specified), this cmdlet does not generate any output.
-Path string
The X.500 path of the Organizational Unit (OU) or container where the new object is created.
In many cases, a default value will be used for -Path if no value is specified.
Note: The PowerShell cmdlets, such New-Item, Remove-Item, Remove-ItemProperty, Rename-Item and
Set-ItemProperty also contain a Path property. However, for the AD provider cmdlets, the -Path parameter
identifies the path of the actual object and not the container.
-PostalCode string
The user's postal code or zip code.
-ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion bool
Whether to prevent the object from being deleted.
When this property is set to true, you cannot delete the corresponding object without
first changing the value of this property.
Possible values: $false or 0, $true or 1
-Server string
The AD Domain Services instance to connect to, this may be a Fully qualified domain name,
NetBIOS name, Fully qualified directory server name (with or without port number)
-State string
The user's or Organizational Unit's state or province.
-StreetAddress string
The organizational unit's street address.
-Confirm
Prompt for confirmation before executing the command.
-WhatIf
Describe what would happen if you executed the command without actually executing the command.
CommonParameters:
-Verbose, -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -WarningAction, -WarningVariable,
-OutBuffer -OutVariable.
New-ADOrganizationalUnit cmdlet creates a new AD OU. Commonly used organizational unit property values may be set using the cmdlet parameters. Property values that are not associated with cmdlet parameters can be set by using the -OtherAttributes parameter.
You must set the -Name parameter to create a new organizational unit.
If the -Path parameter is not specified, the cmdlet creates an organizational unit under the default NC head for the domain.
There are 3 different ways to create an OU object.
Method 1: Use the New-ADOrganizationalUnit cmdlet, specify the required parameters, and set any additional property values by using cmdlet parameters.
Method 2: Use a template to create the new object. Create (or retrieve) an OU object and set the -Instance parameter to this object. The object provided to the -Instance parameter will then used as a template for the new object. Property values from the template may be overridden by setting cmdlet parameters.
Method 3: Pass objects through the pipeline from Import-CSV to New-ADOrganizationalUnit to create multiple AD OU objects.
Examples
Create a new OU named 'Laptops' which is protected from accidental deletion.:
PS C:\> New-ADOrganizationalUnit -Name Laptops -Path "DC=SS64,DC=COM"
Create an OU named 'EAME', protected from accidental deletion and set its 'seeAlso' and 'managedBy' properties:
PS C:\> New-ADOrganizationalUnit -Name EAME -Path "DC=SS64,DC=COM" -OtherAttributes @{seeAlso="CN=Asia,OU=Groups,OU=Managed,DC=SS64,DC=com";managedBy="CN=KenC,DC=SS64,DC=COM"}
Uses the data from one OU as a template for another new OU:
PS C:\> $ouTemplate = Get-ADOrganizationalUnit "OU=EAME,DC=SS64,DC=com" -properties seeAlso,managedBy
PS C:\> New-ADOrganizationalUnit -name KenCReports -instance $ouTemplate
“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic” ~ Unknown Author
Related PowerShell Cmdlets:
Get-adOrganizationalUnit - Get one or more AD OUs.
Remove-adOrganizationalUnit - Remove an AD OU.
Set-adOrganizationalUnit - Modify an AD OU.