Powershell error positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument

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DeiBertine-5145 asked Feb 10, '21 DeiBertine-5145 commented Feb 10, '21

Powershell error positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument

Greetings,
I'm trying to create a simple ps script that will clear telephone number from a large user group in AD, pulling from a csv file however keep getting this error and not sure where or why it is failing...I'd appreciate the feedback or any assistance you could provide. Cheers.

$users = Import-Csv -Path C:\user.csv
foreach ($user in $users) {
Get-ADUser $user.SamAccountName -Properties * -SearchBase 'ou=Users,DC=cotm,DC=local' | Set-ADUser -Clear telephone
}

ERROR:

Get-ADUser : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'fletterman'.
At C:\phone.ps1:5 char:1
+ Get-ADUser $user.SamAccountName -Properties -SearchBase 'ou=...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Get-ADUser], ParameterBindingException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.Commands.GetADUser
Get-ADUser : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'gramone'.
At C:\phone.ps1:5 char:1
+ Get-ADUser $user.SamAccountName -Properties -SearchBase 'ou=...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Get-ADUser], ParameterBindingException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.Commands.GetADUser

windows-server-powershell windows-active-directory

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Answer 1 · 2021-02-10T03:26:33.03Z

IanXue-MSFT answered Feb 10, '21 DeiBertine-5145 commented Feb 10, '21

Hi，

You need to use the -filter parameter to specify an ADUser property and the attribute should be "telephonenumber", not "telephone"

 foreach ($user in $users) {
     $sam = $user.SamAccountName
     Get-ADUser -Filter {SamAccountName -eq $sam} -Properties * -SearchBase 'ou=Users,DC=cotm,DC=local' | Set-ADUser -Clear telephonenumber
 }

Best Regards，
Ian Xue
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DeiBertine-5145 · Feb 10, 2021 at 08:58 PM

Thank you Ian Xue, that was very helpful on your post highlighting what needs to be corrected in the script. Keep up the good work! :-)

0 ·

Answer 2 · 2021-02-10T03:19:14.147Z

RichMatheisen-8856 answered Feb 10, '21

Because you used the -SearchBase parameter you cannot use the -Identity parameter. The -Identity parameter accepts a unique identifier -- there's no search for a match as there is with a -Filter or -LDAPFilter, so you can't specify where in the AD to look. The error is the result of there being three different parameter sets for the Get-ADUser cmdlet and you've used a parameter that excludes the use of the -Identity parameter.

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