powershell returning Get-ADComputer : The object name has bad syntax

Question

I want to get all of the computers in a specific OU and ping them, but Im having trouble with Get-ADComputer.

code:

# Enter CSV file location
$csv = "filepath.csv"
# Add the target OU in the SearchBase parameter
$Computers = Get-ADComputer -Filter * -SearchBase "OU=Servers,DC=mydomain,DC=com" | Select Name | Sort-Object Name
$Computers = $Computers.Name
$Headers = "ComputerName,IP Address"
$Headers | Out-File -FilePath $csv -Encoding UTF8
foreach ($computer in $Computers)
{
    Write-host "Pinging $Computer"
    $Test = Test-Connection -ComputerName $computer -Count 1 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -ErrorVariable Err
    if ($test -ne $null)
    {
        $IP = $Test.IPV4Address.IPAddressToString
        $Output = "$Computer,$IP"
        $Output | Out-File -FilePath $csv -Encoding UTF8 -Append
    }
    Else
    {
        $Output = "$Computer,$Err"
        $output | Out-File -FilePath $csv -Encoding UTF8 -Append
    }
    cls
}

and im getting:

Get-ADComputer : The object name has bad syntax
At script.ps1:2 char 14
+ ... omputers = Get-ADComputer -Filter * -SearchBase "OU=Servers, ...
+                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    +CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-ADComputer], ADException
    +FullyQualifiedErrorId : ActiveDirectoryServer:8335,Microsoft,ActiveDirectory,Management,Command.GetADComputer

ps. this code is taken from here. yes I know Im not supposed to do that but after getting this error time after time I wanted to try a code that works.

so this line >>> Get-ADComputer -Filter * -SearchBase "OU=Servers,DC=mydomain,DC=com" | Select Name | Sort-Object Name <<< fails? what happens if you run just the 1st part? — Lee_Dailey
– Lee_Dailey, Commented Feb 14, 2021 at 10:12
You're not using "OU=Servers,DC=mydomain,DC=com". You're using something else, probably something that has spaces in the wrong spots. Look very closely. — Tomalak
– Tomalak, Commented Feb 14, 2021 at 10:18
When you leave off the SearchBase parameter, does it work? If yes, then your OU path is incorrect, it's as simple as that. Maybe it contains special characters that need to be escaped - hard to say when you don't show it. — Tomalak
– Tomalak, Commented Feb 14, 2021 at 10:39
@PIGEXPERT - kool! glad to know that you found the error & the fix ... [grin] — Lee_Dailey
– Lee_Dailey, Commented Feb 14, 2021 at 11:02

Tomalak · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-14 10:24:17Z

1

Double check that the OU you're using as the search base is correct. This error occurs when it's off.

Apart from that, I recommend using the System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping class. It's a lot faster than Test-Connection because you have more control over the ping timeout.

$ping = New-Object System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping
$pingTimeutMS = 200

$computers = Get-ADComputer -Filter * -SearchBase "OU=Servers,DC=mydomain,DC=com" 

$results = $computers | Sort-Object Name | ForEach-Object {
    $ComputerName = $_.Name
    Write-Host "Pinging $ComputerName..."
    $test = $ping.Send($ComputerName, $pingTimeutMS)
    [pscustomobject]@{
        "Computer" = $ComputerName
        "IP Address" = if ($test.Status -eq "Success") { $test.Address } else { $test.Status }
    }
}

$results | Export-Csv "filepath.csv" -Delimiter ',' -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8

Not appending the lines to the CSV piecemeal feels a bit less clunky, too.

edited Feb 14, 2021 at 10:24

answered Feb 14, 2021 at 10:10

Tomalak

339k68 gold badges547 silver badges635 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

13 Comments

Tomalak Over a year ago

@PIGEXPERT It's not much faster in the success case (maybe a little bit when you send very many pings), but in the error case you don't need to wait as long as with Test-Connection.

Tomalak Over a year ago

@PIGEXPERT Think about that sentence again. What defines a ping success?

Tomalak Over a year ago

@PIGEXPERT ...but how do you know if a machine is connected to the network? You ping it, it responds. This takes two network trips (a.k.a. one round-trip) to wherever the machine is at. In the LAN maybe 10 ms - 5 each way. In slower networks it might take longer. Pinging a machine consists of waiting for a response. There is no way to accelerate the waiting, it takes as long as it takes. You can only decide giving up early when the response does not arrive within X ms. And for Test-Connection X is rather large. For Ping.Send() X is configurable.

Tomalak Over a year ago

For sending email there is Send-MailMessage (docs)

Tomalak Over a year ago

@PIGEXPERT "if they arent at their docking station they arent connected" - No, if they're not connected they are not connected. They could be connected via wireless LAN and respond to pings, "docked" is not a status in TCP/IP.

|

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

powershell returning Get-ADComputer : The object name has bad syntax

1 Answer 1

13 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

13 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related