When testing Exchange Server configurations or developing directory-based applications, creating realistic test data is crucial. Manually adding 100 users through Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) would be time-consuming and error-prone. PowerShell provides the perfect automation solution.

# Import Active Directory module
Import-Module ActiveDirectory

# Define variables
$OUPath = "OU=TestUsers,DC=domain,DC=com"
$Password = ConvertTo-SecureString "P@ssw0rd1" -AsPlainText -Force
$Domain = "domain.com"

# Create 100 test users
1..100 | ForEach-Object {
    $firstName = "TestUser"
    $lastName = $_ # Using iteration number as unique identifier
    $samAccountName = "testuser$_"
    $upn = "$samAccountName@$Domain"
    $displayName = "$firstName $lastName"
    
    New-ADUser -Name $displayName 
               -GivenName $firstName 
               -Surname $lastName 
               -SamAccountName $samAccountName 
               -UserPrincipalName $upn 
               -Path $OUPath 
               -AccountPassword $Password 
               -Enabled $true 
               -ChangePasswordAtLogon $false 
               -EmailAddress "$samAccountName@$Domain"
}

For more realistic testing, we can generate random names using the NameIT module:

# Install and import NameIT module
Install-Module -Name NameIT -Force
Import-Module NameIT

# Create users with random names
1..100 | ForEach-Object {
    $randomName = Get-RandomName -FirstName -LastName
    $firstName = $randomName.FirstName
    $lastName = $randomName.LastName
    $samAccountName = ($firstName.Substring(0,1) + $lastName).ToLower()
    
    New-ADUser -Name "$firstName $lastName" 
               -GivenName $firstName 
               -Surname $lastName 
               -SamAccountName $samAccountName 
               -UserPrincipalName "$samAccountName@$Domain" 
               -Path $OUPath 
               -AccountPassword $Password 
               -Enabled $true
}

After running the script, verify the users were created successfully:

Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase $OUPath | 
Select-Object Name,SamAccountName | 
Format-Table -AutoSize

For Exchange-specific testing, we can add mailbox attributes:

# After creating users, enable mailboxes
1..100 | ForEach-Object {
    $samAccountName = "testuser$_"
    Enable-Mailbox -Identity $samAccountName
}

When testing is complete, remove all test users:

Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase $OUPath | 
Remove-ADUser -Confirm:$false

When testing Exchange Server configurations, email routing, or group policies, having a substantial number of test users is crucial. Creating these manually would be time-consuming and impractical. Here's how to automate the process using PowerShell.

Before proceeding, ensure you have:

• Active Directory Module for PowerShell installed
• Appropriate permissions to create AD users
• Exchange Management Shell if creating mailboxes

Here's a complete script that creates 100 users with realistic names and assigns them to an OU:

# Import required module
Import-Module ActiveDirectory

# Define parameters
$OUPath = "OU=TestUsers,DC=domain,DC=com"
$Password = ConvertTo-SecureString "P@ssw0rd1" -AsPlainText -Force
$Domain = "@domain.com"

# Arrays of sample names
$FirstNames = @("James","John","Robert","Michael","William","David","Richard",
                "Joseph","Thomas","Daniel","Matthew","Anthony","Donald","Mark",
                "Paul","Steven","Andrew","Kenneth","Joshua","George","Kevin")

$LastNames = @("Smith","Johnson","Williams","Brown","Jones","Miller","Davis",
               "Garcia","Rodriguez","Wilson","Martinez","Anderson","Taylor",
               "Thomas","Hernandez","Moore","Martin","Jackson","Thompson","White")

# Create 100 users
1..100 | ForEach-Object {
    # Generate random name
    $FirstName = $FirstNames | Get-Random
    $LastName = $LastNames | Get-Random
    $SamAccountName = ($FirstName.Substring(0,1) + $LastName).ToLower()
    
    # Create user properties
    $UserParams = @{
        GivenName = $FirstName
        Surname = $LastName
        Name = "$FirstName $LastName"
        SamAccountName = $SamAccountName
        UserPrincipalName = "$SamAccountName$Domain"
        Path = $OUPath
        AccountPassword = $Password
        Enabled = $true
        ChangePasswordAtLogon = $false
    }
    
    # Create the user
    New-ADUser @UserParams
    
    # Output progress
    Write-Host "Created user: $SamAccountName"
}

To make the users more realistic and prepare them for Exchange testing:

# Add department and title
$Departments = @("Sales","Marketing","IT","HR","Finance","Operations")
$Titles = @("Manager","Specialist","Analyst","Director","Coordinator","Associate")

1..100 | ForEach-Object {
    # ... previous code ...
    
    # Add additional attributes
    Set-ADUser $SamAccountName -Department ($Departments | Get-Random)
    Set-ADUser $SamAccountName -Title "$($Titles | Get-Random)"
    Set-ADUser $SamAccountName -Company "TestCorp"
    
    # Create mailbox if Exchange is installed
    if (Get-Command Enable-Mailbox -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {
        Enable-Mailbox -Identity $SamAccountName
    }
}

After running the script, verify the users were created:

Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase $OUPath | Measure-Object

When testing is complete, remove all test users:

Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase $OUPath | Remove-ADUser -Confirm:$false

For more complex testing scenarios, consider:

• Generating unique passwords for each user
• Creating distribution groups and adding test users
• Setting mailbox quotas and permissions
• Generating test emails between users