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How to Set Up 300 Lab Users in Under a Minute

Posted on March 4th, 2010 by J. Peter Bruzzese 2 Comments »
J. Peter Bruzzese

One of the challenges to creating a solid training course is creating the illusion of the enterprise.

To do this you need to do more within your Active Directory than create a few users and a couple of creative Organizational Units… you want to show hundreds of users.

But who wants to spend the time creating all of those people? (Note: If you have ever spent hours adding users, as I have, you know it isn’t a fun task).

Well, in working on my latest series for Train Signal about Exchange 2010 I found a great PowerShell script that is perfect for the task of creating several hundred users in under a minute.

The creator of the script is Andy Grogan, an Exchange MVP. On his site (www.telnetport25.com) you can download the PowerShell script that reaches out for a CSV file (that you can edit) and creates 300 user accounts. You can find the script here. Andy was kind enough to let me demonstrate the script in my video series and it worked perfectly.

You download the Create-Users.exe file and it extracts to provide you with a PS1 file (the PowerShell script) that you can edit, along with the CSV file that includes the names and SAM information, including the login password (all of which can be edited or added to).

To run the script you open PowerShell and navigate to the location of the script and type .\CreateUsersFromCSV.ps1 This will open a dialog for you to locate the CSV file. Once you choose the CSV it will create the users and place them in an Organizational Unit called ExchangeUsers.

Note: You can manipulate the script to use a different name for the OU. However, once the users are created you can move them to other OUs or change the name of the ExchangeUsers OU easily.

Personally, this script was a huge time saver. Maybe you would like to try it out in your own lab so that you too can have an ‘enterprise’ lab with hundreds of users, in under a minute.

“If you like special tips and tricks like this one, you will love my new training series on Exchange 2010!” – J. Peter Bruzzese


 

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2 Responses to “How to Set Up 300 Lab Users in Under a Minute”

  • Jonas Says:

    March 4th, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    Hey J. Peter, kewl stuff, thanks for the info.. Any news on the upcoming Exchange 2010 course – can you guys @ Trainsignal give any details on a releasedate? Are we getting closer?

    Still just “Coming Soon!”

    Ohh and what about the Intro to Exchange Server 2010 Training Course – The website still says “early Q1″.. It’s late Q1 now hehe – March 3. 2010

    -Jonas

  • J. Peter Bruzzese Says:

    March 4th, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    Greetings Jonas,

    Nice to see how eager you are to learn Exchange 2010. That makes the many hours we are putting into this course worth the effort. One of our people called it an ‘Epic’ and it sure feels like it. But how else can we guarantee a product that meets up with the expression “Best Computer Training on the Planet!”?

    We are indeed getting closer to completion so say tuned!

    As for the Intro to Exchange 2010… it is done! I’m going to be handing it out in USB keychain form next week at Techmentor in Orlando. It will also be going live online in the near future.

    Want an advanced copy? Shoot me an email: peter@trainsignal.com

    J. Peter Bruzzese
    Triple-MCSE, MCT, MCITP: Messaging

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