Get list of all computers in AD using PowerShell

We can get a list of all computers in Active Directory using the Powershell cmdlet Get-ADComputer. The Get-ADComputer cmdlet supports SQL like filter and LDAP filter to filter AD computers. You can select any attribute that supported in Active Directory and it also supports Extended Properties like Enabled,LastLogonDate,etc…

Before proceed run the following command to import Active Directory module.

Import-Module ActiveDirectory

The following command find and list all the available computers in Active Directory.

Get-ADComputer -Filter * -Properties * |
 Select -Property Name,DNSHostName,Enabled,LastLogonDate

Export all AD Computers to CSV file

You can also export the computer list to csv file by using the powershell cmdlet Export-CSV.

Get-ADComputer -Filter * -Properties * |
 Select -Property Name,DNSHostName,Enabled,LastLogonDate | 
 Export-CSV "C:\AllComputers.csv" -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8

Get all computers in OU

We can also find and get a list of AD computers from particular OU by setting target OU scope by using the parameter SearchBase. The following powershell command select all AD computers from the Organization Unit ‘TestOU‘ and export it to CSV file.

Get-ADComputer -Filter * -SearchBase "OU=TestOU,DC=TestDomain,DC=com" -Properties *  |
 Select -Property Name,DNSHostName,Enabled,LastLogonDate | 
 Export-CSV "C:\AllComputersInOU.csv" -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8

Apply SQL Like filter to get specific computers

The Get-ADComputer cmdlet supports SQL like filter, users who are not familiar with LDAP filter can easily use this filter to get only specific set of AD computers. The following powershell commnd export all computers based on operatingSystem that contains the value ‘Windows 7’.

Get-ADComputer -Filter 'operatingSystem -like "*Windows 7*"' -Properties * |
 Select -Property Name,DNSHostName,operatingSystem,LastLogonDate | 
 Export-CSV "C:\Windows7Computers.csv" -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8

Apply LDAP Filter to get specific computers

If your are familiar with LDAP filter, instead of normal filter, you can also use LDAP filter in Get-ADComputer cmdlet with more flexibility to filter Active Directory computers. The following powershell commnd get list of computers based on operatingSystem that contains the value ‘Windows 7’.

Get-ADComputer -LDAPFilter '(operatingSystem=*Windows 7*)'  -Properties * |
 Select -Property Name,DNSHostName,operatingSystem,LastLogonDate | 
 Export-CSV "C:\Windows7Computers.csv" -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8