Active Directory


Windows 2016 Remote Desktop cannot verify the identity

When connecting using RDP to a Windows 2016 server, you may receive an error message which seems clueless to you: Windows 2016 Remote Desktop cannot verify the identity of the remote computer because there is a time or date difference between your computer and the remote computer. When you manage […]


Domain Controller firewall ports

domain controller firewall ports 5

Often sought on the Internet, rarely complete, here is for a domain controller firewall ports to open so your Windows domain-controller is able to contact the other domain controllers it is depending on for proper replication UDP/123 for time synchronization, as in a domain by default the W32Time of a […]


Could not obtain information about Windows NT group/user ‘domain\user’, error code 0x5

When getting this error message Could not obtain information about Windows NT group/user ‘domainname\username’, error code 0x5 in SQL Server you may be wondering what’s happening. This error message can happen in numerous occasions and while executing different T-SQL Statements, such as xp_logininfo

Or while executing sp_xp_cmdshell_proxy_account while you […]


RPC process diagram

Error 1753: no more endpoints in AD Replication

When you see Error 1753: no more endpoints in AD Replication,  the common mistake is to think about firewall or TCP/IP connectivity issues. The message “Error 1753: There are no more endpoints available from the endpoint mapper” does not mean that you cannot connect at all. It is quite the […]


Efficient Use of Powershell across Domain Controllers: LastLogon Part 3

After our simplistic approach in the 1st part and our discoveries about optimization in part 2, it is time to gather our learnings to lower the total time our script will run: We know that hashtables can be initialized with the number of elements they will approximately contain to avoid […]


Efficient Use of Powershell across Domain Controllers: LastLogon Part 2

Our previous script was simple but not quick. Our second attempt will try to reduce the time it takes to gather all the pieces. First of all we may imagine that our use of the hashtable in Powershell may be inefficient as we start from 0 object and are continuously […]


Efficient Use of Powershell across Domain Controllers: LastLogon Part 1

One of the frequent reports you’re asked to do when you’re administering an Active DIrectory is to know when a user has connected for the last time or how long has a computer account been inactive. In the infancy of the Active Directory, Microsoft faced these requirements too. In Windows […]