Active Directory Cookbook

8.4. Moving a Computer

Problem

You want to move a computer object to a different container or OU.

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. Beside Find, select Computers.

5. Type the name of the computer and click Find Now.

6. In the Search Results, right-click on the computer and select Move.

7. Browse to the new parent container or OU and click on it.

8. Click OK.

Tip

With the Windows Server 2003 version of Active Directory Users and Computers you can also use the new drag and drop functionality to move computers and other objects.

Using a command-line interface

> dsmove "<ComputerDN>" -newparent "<NewParentDN>"

Using VBScript

' This code moves a computer to the specified container/OU.
' ------ SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ------
strCompDN = "<ComputerDN>"  ' e.g. cn=joe-xp,cn=Users,dc=rallencorp,dc=com
strOUDN = "<NewParentDN>"   ' e.g. ou=workstations,dc=rallencorp,dc=com
' ------ END CONFIGURATION ---------

set objComp = GetObject("LDAP://" & strCompDN)
set objOU = GetObject("LDAP://" & strOUDN)
objOU.MoveHere objComp.ADsPath, objComp.Name

Discussion

You can move computer objects around a domain without much impact on the computer itself. You just need to be cautious of the security settings on the new parent OU, which may impact a user’s ...