Active Directory Cookbook

7.3. Viewing the Nested Members of a Group

Problem

You want to view the nested members of a group.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

1. Open the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.

2. If you need to change domains, right-click on Active Directory Users and Computers in the left pane, select Connect to Domain, enter the domain name, and click OK.

3. In the left pane, right-click on the domain and select Find.

4. Enter the name of the group and click Find Now.

5. Double-click on the group in the bottom results pane.

6. Click the Members tab.

7. You now have to double-click on each group member to view its membership.

Using a command-line interface

> dsget group "<GroupDN>" -members -expand

Using VBScript

' This code prints the nested membership of a group.
' ------ SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ------
strGroupDN = "<GroupDN>" ' e.g. cn=SalesGroup,ou=Groups,dc=rallencorp,dc=com ' ------ END CONFIGURATION --------- strSpaces = " " set dicSeenGroupMember = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary") Wscript.Echo "Members of " & strGroupDN & ":" DisplayMembers "LDAP://" & strGroupDN, strSpaces, dicSeenGroupMember Function DisplayMembers ( strGroupADsPath, strSpaces, dicSeenGroupMember) set objGroup = GetObject(strGroupADsPath) for each objMember In objGroup.Members Wscript.Echo strSpaces & objMember.Name if objMember.Class = "group" then if dicSeenGroupMember.Exists(objMember.ADsPath) then Wscript.Echo strSpaces & " ^ already seen group member " & _ "(stopping to avoid loop)" else dicSeenGroupMember.Add objMember.ADsPath, ...