Add User to Remote Group

Johnny

I am writing a application where I need to add a user to the local admin group on a remote computer. I can get it to work fine on a local computer but It will not work on a remote computer. Here is the code.

DirectoryEntry AD = new DirectoryEntry("WinNT://" + computerAccount, adminAccont, adminPassword);
DirectoryEntry NewUser = new DirectoryEntry();
NewUser = AD.Children.Add(username, "user");
NewUser.Invoke("SetPassword", new object[] { password });
NewUser.Invoke("Put", new object[] { "Description", description });
NewUser.CommitChanges();
AD.RefreshCache();

DirectoryEntry grp = AD.Children.Find("Administrator", "group");
if (grp != null)
{
grp.Invoke("Add", new object[] { NewUser.Path.ToString() });
}

But if I use this to add to a local account it works fine.

DirectoryEntry AD = new DirectoryEntry("WinNT://" +
Environment.MachineName + ",computer");
DirectoryEntry NewUser = AD.Children.Add("TestUser1", "user");
NewUser.Invoke("SetPassword", new object[] { "#12345Abc" });
NewUser.Invoke("Put", new object[] { "Description", "Test User from .NET" });
NewUser.CommitChanges();
DirectoryEntry grp;
grp = AD.Children.Find("Guests", "group");
if (grp != null) { grp.Invoke("Add", new object[] { NewUser.Path.ToString() }); }

Any Ideas?

Thanks

8 Replies

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Helvio Junior12y ago
Error (0x80004005): Unspecified error

I had the some problem connecting to the remote windows with the error Error (0x80004005): Unspecified error. I resolved as follows:

//Define path
//This path uses the full path of user authentication
String path = string.Format("WinNT://{0}/{1},user", server_address, username);
DirectoryEntry deBase = null;
try
{
//Try to connect with secure connection
deBase = new DirectoryEntry(path, username, _passwd, AuthenticationTypes.Secure);

//Connection test
//After test define the deBase with the parent of user (root container)
object nativeObject = deBase.NativeObject;
deBase = deBase.Parent;

}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//If an error occurred try without Secure Connection
try
{
deBase = new DirectoryEntry(path, username, _passwd);

//Connection test
//After test define the deBase with the parent of user (root container)
object nativeObject = deBase.NativeObject;
deBase = deBase.Parent;
nativeObject = deBase.NativeObject;

}
catch (Exception ex2)
{
//If an error occurred throw the error
throw ex2;
}
}

Hope that helps.
Helvio Junior
www.helviojunior.com.br
Bechir Bejaoui17y ago
Ah I see

Ok, let's try this code found in this link might it help, I'm sure that there is a missed detail in your case. This code is done to enumerate users within groups
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21514/enumerate-windows-user-group-members-on-remote-system-using-c
Johnny17y ago
I should not have to connect via any specific port to add a user to a group. I can create the user remotely by connecting to the machine using a admin account and password passed in by the directoryservices object. Or I specify the Enviroment,Computername instead of the remote computer it will work. But if I try to cycle through the groups on a remote computer it does not find any groups.
Bechir Bejaoui17y ago
Are you connecting to the right port? within the remote application
Johnny17y ago
The specified local group does not exist. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070560)

This is the expcetion. The group does exist. I have tried adding to Administrators, Users, Power Users etc but on remote machines it doesn't work. It works fine on local.
Bechir Bejaoui17y ago
Could you tel me what is the kind of the execption that is thrown or you can't determine it
Johnny17y ago
It adds the user fine. It throws the exception when trying to add the user to the group. I thought it might be a timing issue but I a test where I added the user waited then tried to add the user to the group but it still threw and exception.
Bechir Bejaoui17y ago
I have a question, have you encountred an exception during the appliction process or simply it doesn't add a user?