Here's a complete technical solution for accessing the Attribute Editor when searching users in Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC):

The ADUC GUI intentionally hides the Attribute Editor tab when opening user objects through the search function, even with Advanced Features enabled. This is a known UI limitation in the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in.

1. Using ADSI Edit

The most direct alternative is using ADSI Edit (adsiedit.msc), which always shows all attributes:

// PowerShell launch command
Start-Process "adsiedit.msc"

Navigation path:
1. Right-click "ADSI Edit" -> "Connect to"
2. Select default naming context or specify your domain
3. Drill down to:
DC=YourDomain,DC=com -> CN=Users -> CN=TargetUser

2. PowerShell Alternative

For scriptable access to all attributes:

# Get all attributes of a user
$user = Get-ADUser -Identity "username" -Properties *
$user | Get-Member

# View specific attribute
$user.extensionAttribute5

# Modify an attribute
Set-ADUser -Identity "username" -Replace @{extensionAttribute5="new value"}

3. LDAP Query Shortcut

Create a custom MMC with both ADUC and ADSI Edit:

1. Run mmc.exe
2. File -> Add/Remove Snap-in
3. Add both "Active Directory Users and Computers" and "ADSI Edit"
4. Save console (.msc file) for future use

When you need to modify the adminCount attribute (common in privilege management):

# Using ADSI Edit:
1. Navigate to user object
2. Open properties
3. Find adminCount in Attribute Editor
4. Change value to 0 or 1

# Using PowerShell:
Set-ADUser -Identity "serviceaccount" -Replace @{adminCount=0}

This approach works for any attribute not exposed in the standard ADUC interface, including custom schema extensions.

When dealing with large OUs (10,000+ users):

• ADSI Edit may timeout - increase timeout in Connection Settings
• PowerShell with server-side filtering is more efficient:

  Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase "OU=Employees,DC=corp,DC=com" -Properties extensionAttribute5 | 
  Where-Object {$_.extensionAttribute5 -eq "TempContract"}
  

Many Active Directory administrators encounter this frustrating scenario: When accessing user properties through normal OU navigation (with Advanced Features enabled), you get the valuable Attribute Editor tab. But when using the domain-wide Find function, this critical tab mysteriously disappears.

The underlying issue stems from how ADUC handles different access methods. The Find dialog returns a limited property set by default, while direct OU navigation loads the complete object. This behavior persists even with Advanced Features enabled.

The most reliable solution is to use PowerShell to access all attributes:

Get-ADUser -Identity "username" -Properties * | 
Select-Object -Property * |
Format-List

For a specific attribute value:

Get-ADUser -Identity "jdoe" -Properties extensionAttribute5 |
Select-Object -ExpandProperty extensionAttribute5

For GUI lovers, ADSI Edit provides full attribute access regardless of how you locate the object:

1. Open adsiedit.msc
2. Connect to default naming context
3. Right-click → New → Query
4. Search for your user
5. All attributes will be visible in properties

To actually modify attributes found in Attribute Editor:

Set-ADUser -Identity "jdoe" -Replace @{
    extensionAttribute5 = "NewValue"
    info = "Updated comment"
}

When dealing with large OUs, PowerShell shines for bulk operations:

Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase "OU=Employees,DC=domain,DC=com" |
ForEach-Object {
    Set-ADUser $_ -Clear "extensionAttribute5"
}