Author Archives: NetTools

NetTools v1.31.0

AD Permissions Reporter
A reporting option to report and search for permissions that have been assigned in the AD, supports both basic and advanced filters. See AD Permissions Reporter.

Certificate Checker
A new feature to verify the certificate that are assigned to website, including the revocation status, More details available here.

Compare AD Permissions
Context menu option to compare the permissions of different objects. See How to compare AD permissions.

Object Replication
A new feature to test if AD objects and their attributes are replicated across the domain controllers in the domain. See Object Replication for more information.

SDDL Viewer
A new feature to display SDDL strings in the Permissions dialog. More details available here.

Find Trustee Assignments
Depreciated

AD Permissions Browser
ACL Browser renamed to AD Permissions Browser
Updated context menu to support option to export a permission as a dsacls command.
Updated inheritance text to include no propagation rights details and displayed separately in the rights view.
Changed the icons used in trustee mode to the same as used in AD Permissions Reporter, to make it easier to see which permissions are applies to the trustee.
Fixed index error when assigning the NT Authority\Self to a trustee.

AD Properties
Fixed context menu on delegation tab to allow linked SPN tests.
Fixed memberof bug, some groups are not displayed if the displayname is not set.
Added option to display the time and date when changes to the group membership happened.
Updated to display the Fine Grain Password details for both users and groups.
Updated Logon tab to include Password Expires based on the msDS-UserPasswordExpiryTimeComputed attribute.

AD Sites
Updated to include a dsBind test to test RPC connection, also updated to support profiles.

AD Subnet
Updated to support IP Addresses with CIDR.
Subnet that are not linked to a site are shown as <not assigned>.

Attributes Dialog
Hex dump - now able to provide hex dump of security descriptor for non-admin users.

Attribute Replication
Updated to display all the attributes of the selected object across the selected domain controllers.

Base64
Updated to support encoding a SID string to binary in Base64 and back to SID String.

DC Resolution
Removed port 3389 from default list of ports, added for testing and shouldn't be there.

Error Messages
Updated to also return error details for WinInet error codes.

GPO Explorer
Added GPO testing functionality similar to that of GPOTool.exe. See How To Test GPOs as GPOTool is no longer available.
Update security tab to include the rights view of the permissions assignment.
Fixed display updates when switching from OU to WMI and back again.

GUID Search
Updated to now search for the entered GUID against common object GUID, and option to search against all GUID attributes found as part of the dynamic attribute discovery.

LDAP Browser
Added button to allow a DN to be opened in a separate window.
Updated to include a Restore Objects for deleted objects, see How To Restore deleted AD objects.

LDAP Search
Added option to limit the number of records returned. Update Favorite Import to support import of multiple favorite in one go.
Updated the DNSProperty decode to support all data types.
Updated favorites variables to include ##root to specific the root DN of the forest.
Updated to support different Ordering OIDs on the sort field, see Sort for more details.
Certificate verification date format now based on regional settings. When connecting using SSL it will now displays the SSL connection information.
Fixed intermittent exception error that could happen when using meta data attribute types.
Fixed bug in the getdn subst variable that could cause an exception.
LDAP Search Enum dialog - Updated context menu to allow selection of bit operator.
Define the enum DecodesType for GPOptions, ServerState, ForceLogoff.
Set DecodeType for AuditPolicy to DecodeType BIN.
Added DecodeType GMSAPWD.PWD_B and GMSAPWD.PPWD_B to display GMSA password in byte based binary output.

Object Count
Updated to save the count details, with subsequent counts shows the delta between the counts.

Object MetaData
Updated to also display the value of the value of the attribute and changed time to display local time.

Organization Structure
Fixed exception that can occur when multiple Left SD menu item selected.
Added additional logic to detect circular references.
Added an extra context menu item to display a separate window with the org structure.

Ping
Added option to specify the ICMP packet size used for the ping.

Permissions dialog
Added additional caching at the profile level to improve performance and reduce data requests. Also improves the performance of AD Permissions Browser, and GPO explorer.
Added Inheritance details to the status bar.

Resolver
Updated test options so any entry is added to the resolver history.
Fixed columns update so blank attributes are shown correctly.

Schema Version
Updated to support Exchange 2019 CU11, CU12 & 2016 CU22, CU23.

SDProp
Updated to include support Service Managed Accounts and improved performance.

SID Converter
Updated to include icons for resolved names and now if a SID is not found, it will now check if the domain SID exists to confirm if the SID has been deleted or the domain is invalid.

Site Browser
Updated to displays bridgehead servers in the site settings view.
Added addition error reporting for Validate function and added DsBind test.
Subnets that are not linked to a site are shown as <not assigned>.

Token Size
Updated the connection to use the GC to correctly resolve cross forest groups and fixed bug were multiple entries in SIDHistory caused the token size to be calculated incorrect.

User Search
Fixed bug where from a child domain, the Use GC option didn't use the root of the forest for the search.

User Search dialog
Updated so if only one user account found and it matches the search, it automatically returns the single entry.

Predefined Queues
The follow queues have been updated:

AD: Invalid Pwd Change (All users)
AD: Invalid Pwd Change (Nominated user)
AD: List gMSA Accounts
AD: List MSA Accounts
AD: Restore Deleted User
AD: RootDSE Modify - Dump Database
Users: Invalid characters for O365
Users: Mail and UserPrincipalName different

How To Compare the Permissions of Two AD Objects

The permissions for a object in AD are stored in the ntSecurityDescriptor attribute, these permissions are used to control who can access the object. When troubleshooting access issues, it is sometimes useful to be able to compare the permissions that are assigned to two different objects. With v1.30.11 above there is now simple method to compare the permissions between two different objects.

The context menu in NetTools now provides two additional menu items to allow permissions of objects to be compared:

Select left SD to compare
Compare to 'left object' SD

To compare the permissions or security descriptors (SD), select the first object and select the Select left SD to compare option, this will set the object as the left items. Then find the second object you want to compare against, and then select the Compare to 'left name' SD option and the compare Permissions dialog box will be displayed.

Compare Permissions

Compare two user objects

The easiest method to compare two user objects is use the quick search option to find the first user, enter the user name in the quick search box and press enter, in this case we are searching for greynolds.

Quick Search

From the Search results, right click on the greynolds object and select the Select left SD to compare

Compare Left

If we search for the second user object, and then right click on the second user and select the Compare to 'Gary Reynolds' SD menu item and the Compare Permissions dialog will be displayed.

Compare SD Item

The comparison between the two objects will be displayed.

Compare Permissions Result

Click on the column header with a '*' to select options to filter the displayed ACEs.

Compare Permissions Options

Compare Other Objects

To compare objects other than users, use one of NetTools options to find the object you are looking for, i.e. LDAP Browser, LDAP Search, ACL Browser, GPO Explorer, etc. all these options have the same context menus to allow to you to compare permissions against any other object.

See Comparing AD Permissions for more information

How To Import an AD Permissions Report Filter

The AD Permissions Reporter option provides the ability to export and import filters, this post provide details on how to import a filter.

This is a sample of a filter text

[Find Deny Permissions Assigned to a user]
Count=1
Options=18437
Rule1_Enabled=1
Rule1_Options=1280
Rule1_SDControl=0
Rule1_SDNotControl=0
Rule1_SDNullAcl=0
Rule1_Prompt=1
Rule1_Token=1
Rule1_Scope=12
Rule1_NotScope=0
Rule1_ACEType=2626
Rule1_ACEFlags=0
Rule1_ACENotFlags=0
Rule1_Perms=0
Rule1_NotPerms=0
Rule1_MatchRules=546

Here are the steps required to import the filter.

Click on the Select button
Click on the Import button
Paste the filter into the dialog
Click Add button

AD Permissions Reporter - Import Filter

Once the filter is imported the list will be updated, now select the new filter from the list.

AD Permission Reporter - Select Filter

AD Permissions Reporter
AD Permissions Reporter - Basic Filters

How To Test GPOs now GPOTool.exe is no longer available

Some of the feature shown are only available in NetTools v1.31.6 beta and above

Previously included in the Windows 2003 Resource Kit there was simple tool called GPOTool.exe, which checked the status of the GPOs in a domain, this would check the consistency of the details between the AD and Sysvol and highlight a number of common problems. As Windows 2003 Resource kit is no longer available for download from Microsoft, and this functionality hasn't been incorporated into any of the existing tools, there is no easy way to confirm the status of the GPOs in a domain.

Under the GPO Explorer in NetTools there is a test option that performs a similar suite of tests that were performed by GPOTool.exe. There are two methods to test the status of the GPOs, either at the individually GPO level or at the domain level to test all GPOs.

The test covers the following items:

AD Replication
Sysvol Replication
Mismatching of AD and Sysvol versions
Compare object counts for both AD and Sysvol
Sysvol gpt.ini exists
Trustees that have apply GPO rights have permissions in Sysvol

Test an Individual GPO

When selecting a GPO in the GPO Explorer an tab called Testing is shown with the details of the policy, which allows you to test the selected GPO. By default, the test will be run against all Domain Controllers in the domain, however, you are able to select which domain controllers will be be included in the test. This allows you to deselect domain controllers that might be at the end of a slow link or are offline temporarily. The server selection is on the test all GPO screen, see below.

GPO Testing Results - Individual

Test All or multiple GPOs at once

This option is found by select the root of the domain in the left hand pane, the Testing tab displays the domain controllers and GPOs in the domain. The lists can be used to select which servers and GPOs will be included in the test . The test provides to those who have used GPOTool.exe before, with a touch nostalgia, as the output is pretty must the same as GPOTool.exe.

GPO Testing Results

If an issue is found with the policies, the details of the policies on all domain controllers is displayed, or if Display Policy Details options is selected.

Failed Results

The Testing option is intended to check that the policies are replicated correctly between the domain controllers in the domain. If the domain has a single domain controller or only a single domain controller is selected, then the test will only complete the data capture phase against the selected DC, and will display the results of the data capture and provide a warning that only one domain controllers has been selected.

See GPO Explorer - GPO Test Details for more details on the test that are performed.

How To Display the RootDSE of an AD Domain Controller

In this post we will look at how to display the RootDSE of a domain controller using NetTools.

RootDSE is the root of the directory tree on a directory server. The rootDSE provides information about the directory server, and the details of the features and options that the server supports.

With NetTools it is a simple task to display the RootDSE, In NetTools if you navigate to the LDAP Search option.

To retrieve the RootDSE entry the name of the domain controller in the server field, ensure that the Base DN field is blank and then click on the Show Attributes for DN button.

Display RootDSE

This RootDSE will be displayed as shown below.

How To Find Assigned Permissions in AD (v1.30.8+)

In this post we will look at how to find where a user or group have been assigned permissions in the AD, this is based on NetTools v1.30.8 or later. For details using NetTools v1.30.7 or earlier see this post.

For this task we will use the AD Permissions Reporter option in NetTools, which will allow us to search the entire domain or a specific OU structure and report on any permissions that are assigned to the specified user or group. As this will search every object in the AD, it's best to run this on a server or workstation that is on the same network segment as the Domain Controller, or on the Domain Controller itself.

First we need to find the user or group we are interested in, in the Quick Search box enter the name of the user or group and click the search button. In this case we are searching for the user called greynolds.

Quick Search

The results of the search will be displayed in the User Search option, right click on the correct user or group from the list, and select Use With -> AD Permissions Reporter from the context menu.

Find Permissions

NetTools will switch to the AD Permissions Reporter option and start searching for selected user or group in AD. Depending on the size of your AD this might take a while as it will read the permissions of every object in the domain context. Once the search is complete all the objects that user or group have been assigned direct permissions will be displayed.

Find User's Permissions

By clicking on one of the objects listed in the left results pane you can view the permissions that have been assigned to the user or group.

It's also worth completing a search of the Configuration partition in case permissions have been assigned there as well. This can be done by changing the Context field to Configuration NC and pressing Go.

How To Restore deleted AD objects

This feature is supported in NetTools v1.30.9 beta and above

With the introduction of Windows 2008 R2, a new feature called Active Directory Recycle Bin was introduced. This feature allow you to restore objects that have been deleted by mistake or maliciously, without the need to do a restoration from backup and the AD authoritative restore. For new forest installs of Windows 2008R2 and above, this feature is enabled by default, for forests were the domain controller have been upgrade, the feature has to be manually enabled. To enable the Active Directory Recycle Bin see this page which has the details.

The only method that was originally provided to recovery delete object was through LDP, which requires multiple steps and configuration changes to be able to restore an object.

NetTools provides a simple method to restore single or multiple objects in a single operation. This feature is incorporated in the LDAP Browser option.

To be able to restore a delete object you must meet the following prerequisites:

The recycle bin feature must be enabled
The recycle bin feature must have been enabled before the objects were deleted
Be a member of Domain Admins or equivalent

When an object is deleted it's moved to the Deleted Objects container, in the partition that the object existed. This also means that objects that have been deleted from the Configuration, DomainDNSZones, and ForestDNSZones can be restored using NetTools. When browsing the partitions with LDAP Browser the deleted object will be displayed in CN=Deleted Objects,<partiton dn>.

Deleted Objects Container

Objects that are listed in the Deleted Objects container can be restored by select the objects and right clicking and selecting Restore Objects from the context menu.

Context Menu - Restore Objects

The context menu option will open the Object Restore dialog, shown below. When the dialog opens it will perform a number of validation checks of the selected objects, to ensure that the common issues are detected before the restore is attempted.

The Validation consists of the following checks:

If the object has been tombstoned
If the target parent container still exists
if the target parent container is deleted
If a new object with the same name has been created in the target parent

The objects that pass the validation will show a status of Good, for objects that fail these checks, the reason will be displayed in the status column and can't be restored. See Troubleshooting section for details on how to try and resolve these issues.

Object Restore - Validation

Once the validation is complete the results are shown at the bottom of the list of objects, and then the Restore button will be enabled. By clicking the restore button, only the objects that are valid will be restored.

Object Restore - Restored

The context menu provides the standard option to review the restored objects.

Restoring A Deleted OU

If an OU has been deleted which contains multiple objects and child OUs, these can also be restored, however, the OU structure must be restored first, then followed by the object in the OU. The simplest method to find objects that have been deleted from the same the OU, is to change the column displayed to include the LastKnownParent and WhenChanged

For this example, here are the details of the OU Structure that has been deleted. Sorry about the names, it was an OU that was already created!

Deleted OU Structure

These are the steps needed to restore the OU structure

Restore the Parent OU
Restore any sub level OUs
Restore the child objects

Restore Parent OU

First you will need to restore the top level OU called Test5, sort the columns by the LastKnownParent column to make it easier to find the parent OU for Test5, in this case the root.

Object Restore - Parent OU

Restore the sub level OU

With the Parent OU restored it's now easier to find which objects were in the OU structure, as the LastKnownParent has now been updated, next restore any sub level OUs, in our example sub-OU has been restored.

Object Restore - sub level OU

Restore child Objects

Once the OU structure has been restored, we are ready to restore the objects from the OU structure, one things that we need to be conscious of, some objects may have been deleted previously and we don't want to restore these objects, using the WhenChanged column to help identify the objects we want to restore.

Object Restore - OUs Restored

Troubleshooting

This section provide somes some extra details of the possible error messages that can happen during the validation.

Object has tombstoned

The object was been delete grater than msDS-deletedObjectLifetime period and now the object has been tombstoned. The object has the IsRecycled attribute set to true. Which means most of the attributes of the object have been removed and the object only exists to ensure replication is consistent between the domain controllers and the object can't be restored.

Parent Object is deleted

You are trying to restore an object to a parent object, but the parent object is currently deleted, restore the parent object first, then try restoring the child object.

Parent Object not found

Something has changed from selecting the object and running the validation, close the Object Restore dialog and try again.

Parent details not found

Failed to read the LastKnownParent attribute, confirm the attribute is set and try again.

Another object already exists

Since the object was deleted, another object with the same name has been created in the parent OU, either move or rename the new object so you can restore the deleted object.

Failed to get DN details

Failed to read the LastKnownParent or msDS-LastKnownRDN attributes, confirm these attributes are set and try again.

How To Display which Fine Grain Password Policy is applied

In this post we look at how to display which Fine Grain Password Policy (FGPP) is being applied to a user.

Fine Grain Password Policies were introducted in Windows 2008, and provide the ability to define different password policies that can be assigned to users or members of a group. The assigned FGPP will take precedence over the default domain policy, and can be used to provide a different settings depending on your requirements, this could be used to have a more strict password policy for admin accounts.

The FGPP configuration is stored in a Password Security Object or PSO and multiple PSO can be created with different settings. These are stored in the Password Settings Container under the default name context i.e CN=Password Settings Container,CN=System,DC=w2k12,DC=local.

A user can be assigned multiple FGPP, but only one will be active and used to control the user password requirements. The msDS-PSOApplied attribute is used to list all the PSO that are assigned directly to user or group objects. The msDS-ResultantPSO attribute is used to show which FGPP is being applied to the user.

NetTools is able to display the FGPP polices and which FGPP is allocated to a user. (Version 1.30.7 and above required)

If we search for a user using the Quick Search field on the toolbar.

Quick Search

From the search results if we double click on the user's account and open the AD properties dialog, the Logon tab, shows which Fine Grain Policy is being applied and the Fine Grain Password tab shows the settings of that policy.

AD Properties - Logon

AD Properties - FGPP

How To Find Assigned Permissions in AD (pre v1.30.8)

In this post we will look at how to find where a user or group have been assigned permissions in the AD this is based on NetTools pre v1.30.8. For details using NetTools v1.30.8 or later see this post.

For this task we will use the Find Assigned Trustee option in NetTools, which will allow us to search the entire domain or a specific OU structure and report on any permissions that are assigned to the specified user or group. As this will search every object in the AD, it's best to run this on a server or workstation that is on the same network segment as the Domain Controller, or on the Domain Controller itself.

Quick Search

The results of the search will be displayed in the User Search option, right click on the correct user or group from the list, and select Use With -> Find Trustee from the context menu.

Select Find Trustee menu option

NetTools will switch to the Find Trustee Assignment option and start searching for selected user or group in AD. Depending on the size of your AD this might take a while as it will read the permissions of every object in the domain context. Once the search is complete all the objects that user or group have been assigned direct permissions will be displayed.

Find Trustee Assignments

By clicking on one of the objects listed in the left results pane you can view the permissions that have been assigned to the user or group.

How To Display the Meta Data of an AD object

In this post we look at how to use NetTools to display the replication meta data of an AD object.

Displaying the replication meta data of an AD object is a core capability, and it is available as a context menu item throughout NetTools. See Basics and Meta Data Dialog for more details.

In this post we will look at the two most common scenario, searching and browsing for objects that you want to view the replication meta data.

Searching Method

The search option is best for common AD objects such as users, groups, computers, etc, that are in the default domain context, If you want to view the meta data information for an object that is in the schema, configuration, DNS, or AD LDS (ADAM) partitions, use the Browse Method below.

To search for an object we can use the quick search field on the toolbar at the top of NetTools. In the field enter the name of the object you are wanting to find and click the search button.

In this case we are search for the computer object for w2k19. The Search screen will be displayed with the results of the search.

Search Results

If you right click on the required item and select the Meta Data menu items, the Meta Data dialog will be displayed.

Meta Data Menu

Meta Data Dialog

For more details on the Search option see User Search

Browsing Method

The advantage of using the browse method, is it allows you to display the meta data for objects that are not in default domain context and wouldn't be found by the search method. You can browser the required name context, configuration, schema and DNS, or AD LDS (ADAM) partitions. To use the browse method you need to select the LDAP Browser option under LDAP in the left hand option selection pane.

LDAP Browser

Selecting the required partition from the drop down list in the DN field.

You can select one of the partitions from the drop down list, or enter the required DN in the field, then click Go. The view will be populated and you can browse the partition to find your object. You can right click the object in the navigate tree or the list view and select the Meta Data menu item to display the Meta Data of the selected object.

LDPA Browser - Meta Data Menu

This will show the replication Meta Data dialog.

Meta Data Dialog

For more details on the LDAP Browser option see LDAP Browser