Setting DistinguishedName using UserPrincipal

Question

When using DirectoryEntry, it is possible to set the CN of the new user account, but how to do it using UserPrincipal? The property is readonly.

// From : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc135979.aspx
DirectoryEntry container = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://ou=TechWriters,dc=fabrikam,dc=com"); 

// create a user directory entry in the container 
DirectoryEntry newUser = container.Children.Add("cn=user1Acct", "user"); 
// add the samAccountName mandatory attribute 
newUser.Properties["sAMAccountName"].Value = "User1Acct"; 
// save to the directory 
newUser.CommitChanges();

But using UserPrincipal:

// For the example
using (PrincipalContext ctx = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, null, "ou=TechWriters,dc=fabrikam,dc=com")
{
    using (UserPrincipal user = new UserPrincipal(ctx, "User1Acct", "pwd", true))
    {
         // I would like to do :
         user.DistinguishedName = "user1Acct";
         //
         user.Save();
    }
}

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 31 '13 at 13:54

Not the answer you want, but to my knowledge its not doable that way... The CN is 'protected' om the userprinciple class, as too much elsewhere relies on that being stable information.

I don't know why one would mix things up, but you could try this:

using (var ctx = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, null, "ou=TechWriters,dc=fabrikam,dc=com"))
        {
            using (var user = new UserPrincipal(ctx, "User1Acct", "pwd", true))
            {
                user.Save();
            }

            using (var entry = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://cn=User1Acct;ou=TechWriters,dc=fabrikam,dc=com",null,null,AuthenticationTypes.Secure))
            {
                entry.Rename("cn=user1Acct");
            }
        }

(Maybe getting the LDAP string from the userPrinciple instead of hardcoding)

I do not have the possibillity to test this though..

Setting DistinguishedName using UserPrincipal

1 Answers1