Export the source Groups and Users from AD to CSV using export-ADData.ps1. At this time, system users and groups are unnecessary, except for the most special cases, so be sure to use the -ExcludeSystemObject option.
Similarly, export from the import target AD using -ExcludeSystemObject. Even if your intended import target is a branch OU, always specify the base domain in -DNPath during export.
All CSV and TXT files should use UTF-8 encoding. Do not use local encodings such as ShiftJIS or CP932.
Check for collisions between the SamAccountName of Groups and Users on both sides. If any are found, decide on a policy for renaming or deletion.
📝 Describing mostly for Users as an example, but applies to both Groups and Users.
Users_domain_local-nosys.csv (Groups_domain_local-nosys.csv)
The original data exported from export-ADData.ps1 with system objects excluded.
Users_domain_local-nosys.xlsx (Groups_domain_local-nosys.xlsx)
Convert to Excel for further operations. Identify and highlight columns unnecessary for import by utilizing conditional formatting, etc—these are not harmful for import-ADData.ps1 but are cumbersome for editing.
For Groups (save if you want as i.e., headers-slim-Groups.csv; for Excel processing, local encoding like ShiftJIS may be appropriate):
Minimal
MemberOf,CN,Description,DisplayName,DistinguishedName,GroupCategory,GroupScope,groupType,HomePage,isCriticalSystemObject,ManagedBy,Name,ObjectCategory,ObjectClass,SamAccountName
Note: Some columns e.g., DisplayName, HomePage, ObjectCategory, CN are not used in import-ADData.ps1 for now. But we recommend to keep these for your reference or future utilization.
For Users (i.e., headers-slim-Users.csv):
Minimal
MemberOf,Manager,CanonicalName,City,CN,codePage,Company,Country,countryCode,Department,Description,DisplayName,DistinguishedName,Division,EmailAddress,EmployeeID,EmployeeNumber,Enabled,Fax,GivenName,HomeDirectory,HomeDrive,HomePage,HomePhone,Initials,isCriticalSystemObject,MobilePhone,Name,ObjectCategory,ObjectClass,Office,OfficePhone,Organization,OtherName,PasswordNeverExpires,POBox,PostalCode,PrimaryGroup,ProfilePath,SamAccountName,sAMAccountType,ScriptPath,State,StreetAddress,Surname,Title,userAccountControl,UserPrincipalName
📝 Note: Some columns e.g., CanonicalName, CN, codePage, HomePage, Initials, Organization, PrimaryGroup, sAMAccountType are not used in import-ADData.ps1 for now. But we recommend to keep these for your reference or future utilization.
📝 Note: Add "Password" column if you need to register password for any user. (See site README or import-ADData.ps1 help.) Existence of this column does no harm because import-ADData.ps1 ignores each Password field if it is blank.
📝 Note: You may also add a "ChangePasswordAtLogon" column to the user CSV to control whether users must change their password at next logon. Acceptable values are TRUE, YES, or 1 to enable, and FALSE, NO, or 0 to disable. This column takes precedence over the userAccountControl property for this setting. To activate this feature, you may have to use the "Password" column together with "ChangePasswordAtLogon". For more details, see the README and import-ADData.ps1 help.
Users_domain_local-slim.xlsx (Groups_domain_local-slim.xlsx)
Save this file after removing unnecessary columns.
Users_domain_local-slim.csv (Groups_domain_local-slim.csv)
Save the previous Excel file as CSV (UTF-8).
exclude-users-regex.txt) containing patterns to match SamAccountName, Name, or CN for exclusion. (If you only have a few entries to remove, manual deletion is fine. However, this method will also save you when you need to re-export the original data later to start over.):
,*alpha*,
,*foxtrot*,
Then run (if you are using Linux):
grep -v -f exclude-users-regex.txt Users_domain_local-slim.csv > Users_domain_local-slim-mod.csv
This produces a “mod” CSV with the specified entries excluded.
For Users, this file is the final form for use in import.
Users_domain_local-slim-mod.xlsx (Groups_domain_local-slim-mod.xlsx)
Save as Excel.
For groups, to minimize race conditions due to dependencies among groups during import, sort the file in Excel and save. (Recommended sort condition: primary:SamAccountName secondary:DistinguishedName)