New-ADUser: The name provided is not a properly formed account name

Question

_{Wednesday, March 25, 2020 9:28 PM}

###########
#Sample 1
###########
$FirstName = "Bob"
$LastName = "Bobertson"

$newUserParams = @{
    Name = ("{0} {1}" -f $FirstName, $LastName) 
    Path = "OU=Test1,OU=Test2,OU=Test3,OU=Test4,OU=Test5,DC=Everything,DC=local"
}
try   {
    $newUser = New-ADUser $newUserParams 
   }
catch {
        "There was an issue creating {0} {1}. {2}" -f $user.LastName, $user.FirstName, $_
   }

##New-ADUser: Access is denied

###########
#Sample 2
###########


$FirstName = "Bob"
$LastName = "Bobertson"

$newUserParams = @{
    Name = ("{0} {1}" -f $FirstName, $LastName) 
    
}
try   {
    $newUser = New-ADUser $newUserParams -Path "OU=Test1,OU=Test2,OU=Test3,OU=Test4,OU=Test5,DC=Everything,DC=local"
   }
catch {
        "There was an issue creating {0} {1}. {2}" -f $user.LastName, $user.FirstName, $_
   }

##New-ADUser: The name provided is not a properly formed account name
###########

###########

I am very new to the power shell and I want to understand the mistake I am doing in the above code. 

In the Sample # 1 - I got "access is denied"

In the Sample # 2 - I got " The name provided is not a properly formed account name"

I do have the "manage user privilege and I am able to create the new-aduser with the below code. 

$First_Name = "Bob"
$Last_Name = "Bobertson"
$Sam_Account_Name = "{0}{1}" -f $First_Name.Substring(0,1), $Last_Name
$Friendly_Name = ("{0} {1}" -f $First_Name, $Last_Name)
$Job_Title = "Accounting Analyst I"
$AccountPassword = "P@ssword1" | ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force

$newUsrParams = @{
    Name = $Friendly_Name
    Title = $Job_Title 
    GivenName =$First_Name 
    Surname = $Last_Name 
    DisplayName = $Friendly_Name 
    SamAccountName = $Sam_Account_Name 
    UserPrincipalName = "{0}@mycompany.com" -f $Sam_Account_Name 
    AccountPassword = $AccountPassword 
    Enabled = $true 
    ChangePasswordAtLogon = $true
    ErrorAction = "Stop"
    Path = "OU=Test1,OU=Test2,OU=Test3,OU=Test4,OU=Test5,DC=Everything,DC=local"
}
try {
    $newUser = New-ADUser @newUsrParams
}
catch {
    "There was an issue creating {0}. {1}" -f $Sam_Account_Name, $_
}

Please advise. TIA.

All replies (7)

_{Wednesday, March 25, 2020 10:13 PM ✅Answered | 1 vote}

To splat a param set use "@".

New-ADUser @newUserParams  

You didn't do that in your first two examples.

\(ツ)_/

_{Wednesday, March 25, 2020 10:03 PM}

Please post the full error message and not jsut the text.  That tells us what is malformed and where.

\(ツ)_/

_{Thursday, March 26, 2020 12:42 AM}

thank you for the reply. 

I would like to know how can I get a full error message. Currently, I am calling the script in the console and that is the only text being returned. 

_{Thursday, March 26, 2020 12:47 AM}

thank you much. it worked perfect.

_{Thursday, March 26, 2020 12:47 AM}

You are not returning the error but are translating it into text. 

Use "Throw $_" to return the error.  Changing it into text makes it unusable.

\(ツ)_/

_{Thursday, March 26, 2020 12:56 AM}

I have "$_" in the catch block but, for some reason it is not going into catch block.

I tried to run the sample # 1 including additional parameters "telephoneNumber = $user.WorkPhone"

I was hoping for the catch block to throw error message with error description but, I got the below message. 

"New-ADUser: A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'telephoneNumber'."

but, I have that as one of the attribute in the AD. please advise. thank you. 

_{Thursday, March 26, 2020 5:25 PM}

Thank you, Richard.