how to get userdetails from Active Directory based on username using asp.net

By: Suresh Dasari Mar 11, 2011

Introduction:

Here I will explain how to get userdetails from Active directory based on username using asp.net

Description:

One day I got requirement like to get user details from Active directory based on username.

For that first create one new website after that right click on website and select Add Reference option after that select System.DirectoryServices from .NET tab and click ok now directory services reference has added to our application do you know why we have added this directory service to our application because by using this service we can get userdetails from Active directory.

After that design your aspx page like this

</head>

<body>

<div>

<table>

<tr>

<td>

Enter Username:

</td>

<td>

<asp:TextBox ID="txtusername" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>

</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>

</td>

<td>

<asp:Button ID="btnSubmit" runat="server" Text="Submit" onclick="btnSubmit_Click" />

</td>

</tr>

<tr>

First Name:

</td>

<td>

<asp:Label ID="lblfname" runat="server" Font-Bold="true"></asp:Label>

</td>

</tr>

<tr>

Last Name:

</td>

<td>

<asp:Label ID="lbllname" runat="server" Font-Bold="true" ></asp:Label>

</td>

</tr>

<tr>

Email:

</td>

<td>

<asp:Label ID="lblemail" runat="server" Font-Bold="true"></asp:Label>

</td>

</tr>

</table>

</div>

</form>

</body>

</html>

After that add these references in code behind

using System.Configuration; using System.DirectoryServices;

After completion of writing namespaces and write the following code in button click codebehind

protected void btnSubmit_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

string connection = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ADConnection"].ToString();

DirectorySearcher dssearch = new DirectorySearcher(connection);

dssearch.Filter = "(sAMAccountName=" + txtusername.Text + ")";

SearchResult sresult = dssearch.FindOne();

DirectoryEntry dsresult = sresult.GetDirectoryEntry();

lblfname.Text = dsresult.Properties["givenName"][0].ToString();

lbllname.Text = dsresult.Properties["sn"][0].ToString();

lblemail.Text = dsresult.Properties["mail"][0].ToString();

}

If you observe above code here I am getting active directory connection path from web.config for that set the active directory connection in web.config like this

</connectionStrings >

Demo

If you observe above code to get firstname i used “givenName” and for lastname I used “sn” these all are defined properties in active directory if we want to get the details address, work phone, home address etc each one having different LDAP property name check below table for LDAP property names in Active directory

Name	LDAP Provider Property Name	Syntax
First Name	givenName	String
Initials	initials	String
Last name	sn	String
Display name	displayName	String
Description	description	String
Office	physicalDeliveryOfficeName	String
Telephone number	telephoneNumber	String
Other Telephone numbers	otherTelephone	String
E-mail	mail	String
Web page	wWWHomePage	String
Other Web pages	url	String
Street	streetAddress	String
P.O. Box	postOfficeBox	String
City	l	String
State/province	st	String
Zip/Postal Code	postalCode	String
Country/region	c, co, countryCode	String
User logon name	userPrincipalName	String
pre-Windows 2000 logon name	sAMAccountName	String
Account disabled?	userAccountControl	Boolean
User Profile path	profilePath	String
Logon script	scriptPath	String
Home folder, local path	homeDirectory	String
Home folder, Connect, Drive	homeDrive	String
Home folder, Connect, To:	homeDirectory	String
Title	title	String
Department	department	String
Company	company	String
Manager	manager	String
Mobile	mobile	String
Fax	facsimileTelephoneNumber	String
Notes	info	String

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29 comments :

Unknown said...: Thanks very much for this post! Though your code is C based and I'm working in VB, I was able to piece together this code and get it working in my application. I have found a way to use this to automatically pull user information from the logged in user. In the Master page of my site I used this code:

Dim nLen As Integer
Dim connection As String
Dim dssearch As System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher
Dim sresult As System.DirectoryServices.SearchResult
Dim dresult As System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry

nLen = Len(Page.User.Identity.Name)
Session("UserName") = ""
Session("UserName") = Mid(Page.User.Identity.Name, 15, nLen)

connection = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("ADConnection").ToString()
dssearch = New System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher(connection)
dssearch.Filter = "(sAMAccountName=" + Session("UserName") + ")"
sresult = dssearch.FindOne()
dresult = sresult.GetDirectoryEntry()

lblName.Text = dresult.Properties("displayName").Value.ToString()

Hope this helps anyone working in VB!; November 9, 2011 at 11:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Very nice article.

Is there any way to use a such script to validate a username/password to receive either true or false as a Valid AD login attempt?; December 15, 2011 at 9:43 AM
Anonymous said...: That solved my problem thanks man; March 14, 2012 at 7:22 AM
Anonymous said...: Very Nice article.

Thanks for your help.; June 18, 2012 at 6:57 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear Suresh

I received the following error message after keying in username and click Submit. What could be the source of error. I have followed the steps as decribed above. Thanks in advance.

erah

Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index

Source Error:

Line 23: DirectoryEntry dsresult = sresult.GetDirectoryEntry();
Line 24: lblfname.Text = dsresult.Properties["givenName"][0].ToString();
Line 25: lbllname.Text = dsresult.Properties["sn"][0].ToString();
Line 26: lblemail.Text = dsresult.Properties["mail"][0].ToString();
Line 27: }

Stack Trace:

[ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index]
System.Collections.CollectionBase.System.Collections.IList.get_Item(Int32 index) +9551843
System.DirectoryServices.PropertyValueCollection.get_Item(Int32 index) +8
HR_StaffCV_FindADdetails.btnSubmit_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) in d:\KH-INTRA-DEV3\HR\StaffCV\FindADdetails.aspx.cs:25
System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e) +118
System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +112
System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.System.Web.UI.IPostBackEventHandler.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +10
System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument) +13
System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(NameValueCollection postData) +36
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +5563

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319; ASP.NET Version:4.0.30319.272; July 10, 2012 at 2:14 PM
Anonymous said...: I got it resolved after searching the net. The reason for the error is my active directory entry does not have a last name entry. Just uncommnet this lbllname.Text = dsresult.Properties["sn"][0].ToString(); and the error message goes way. Thanks Suresh for this wonderful post.
erah; July 11, 2012 at 2:42 PM
Anonymous said...: Thanks alot. It saves my time.

- M. A. Khan; August 22, 2012 at 6:36 AM
Anonymous said...: Thank you very much. I searched all day for this solution!; September 28, 2012 at 1:32 PM
Anonymous said...: Thanks so much.This is step by step doc.; October 9, 2012 at 2:11 AM
Gopal Arora said...: Hi suresh,

I have done the same code for directory search. No error is coming when i run this in browser, but results are not coming.

string connection = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["dbcon"].ToString();
DirectorySearcher dssearch = new DirectorySearcher(connection);
dssearch.Filter = "(name=" + txtusername.Text + ")";
SearchResult sresult = dssearch.FindOne();
DirectoryEntry dsresult = sresult.GetDirectoryEntry();
lblfname.Text = dsresult.Properties["name"][0].ToString();
lbllname.Text = dsresult.Properties["lname"][0].ToString();
lblemail.Text = dsresult.Properties["mail"][0].ToString();; November 28, 2012 at 4:26 AM
pavan said...: Good One, i have a question here, say for example when user logs in from active directory username & password of a particular country, i have to save the files on country basis in sqlserver table. Could you please advise on this; February 17, 2013 at 2:05 AM
Unknown said...: helo sir using system.DirectorySearcher namespace im not geting on my page...please help its urgent; March 9, 2013 at 7:12 AM
Anonymous said...: hi, when I try the manager variable, i get CN=test01,OU=MIS1 Dept,OU=greyt,DC=silver,DC=COM

I just want the test01 to appear; April 10, 2013 at 4:33 AM
Unknown said...: Hi,

I am trying to implement the same, and want to share the problem faced:

Users in my AD are bound to their computers. Now I want to implement a switch user functionality in my VB .NET application, where in the user will enter his username and password into the site open on a machine on which he/she does not have access. This method fails to authenticate the user giving a bad username/password error when we execute the FindOne() method.

Otherwise, the users are able to authenticate themselves from their individual bound machines.

Any help provided will be greatly appreciated.; April 24, 2013 at 5:15 AM
anandakumar said...: Hi,
How to get the defined properties of Active directory parameter like ....“givenName” and for lastname I used “sn”; May 7, 2013 at 4:28 AM
Varun Verma said...: AWSM BLOSM...10 STARS !!!! THAnks yaar; May 11, 2013 at 3:59 AM
Varun Verma said...: Hi All,

Use this if you want only manager

lblman.Text = dsresult.Properties["manager"][0].ToString().Split (',')[0].Split ('=')[1];

Thanks; May 11, 2013 at 4:11 AM
bhargava said...: Nice blog,

All properties are coming except phone number; June 4, 2013 at 5:24 AM
Anonymous said...: DirectorySearcher dssearch = new DirectorySearcher(connection); works on local development environment but fails when I host it on a server. I need to provide my active directory user id and password to this line so that it can work like:-
DirectorySearcher dssearch = new DirectorySearcher(connection,"abhas","Password123").
Is there any way I can avoid entering my credentials and still running the application; August 21, 2013 at 2:54 AM
Rehan Hussain said...: great, this is what i was looking for.
Thanks; September 17, 2013 at 11:06 PM
Eder Juarez said...: a que se debe este error agradeceria si alguien tiene una solucion :)

{System.Runtime.InteropServices.ExternalException} = {"El dominio especificado no existe o no se pudo poner en contacto con él.\r\n"}; October 30, 2013 at 12:46 PM
Anonymous said...: Will you please write this code LDAP with WCF; April 9, 2014 at 7:26 AM
Anonymous said...: HI Suresh,

how to get userdetails from Active Directory based on given username using java scirpt
for nintex form 2010
pls send me java script
thanks and regards
raju; April 20, 2014 at 10:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Very useful; June 16, 2014 at 12:44 AM
KAmlesh said...: Hi, Could you please let me know what kind of IIS setting required to host this, because after hosting this I am not getting AD details.; July 4, 2014 at 5:03 AM
Anonymous said...: Thanks for this easy to use example !; July 22, 2014 at 8:30 AM
Anonymous said...: How to get all Active users in AD..?
Pls Help Sir; January 6, 2015 at 10:06 AM
andra said...: fedsaf; July 20, 2015 at 1:25 AM
andra said...: Good 1; July 20, 2015 at 1:27 AM