search active directory

Although you can logon to the DC as an admin and search active directory for things like user and computers it is often times much faster to search from your Windows desktop OS.

Open File Explorer and on the left pane click on "Network"
Make sure you have selected the Network tab at the top and then click "Search Active Directory

This brings up the handy little search window but there is a much faster way to accomplish this. What we want to do is pin an Icon for this on our taskbar. Here are the steps to do that:

Right click on your desktop and select

New

Shortcut

Input this for the location:

C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe dsquery.dll OpenQueryWindow

Then call the shortcut whatever you like such as AD Search

Then right click the shortcut and select "Pin to Taskbar"