CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershell
fox197
fox197

Reputation: 9

Can't accept $null

I am trying to create a AD user in my OU called public that has a username of numbers is enabled and a password set that is password1. When I run the command I get the error A positional Parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '$null'.

Any help would be appreciated

Here is what I put into powershell 

`New-ADUser -Name "BoB Glen" -GivenName "BoB"-Surname "Glen" -DisplayName "2003487" $secpasswd = ConvertTo-SecureString -String "pa$$word1" -AsPlainText -Force -AccountPassword $secpsswd -Enabled $true -Path "OU=Public,DC=Company,DC=epl,DC=local"`

Here is the entire error

New-ADUser : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '$null'.
At line:1 char:1
+ New-ADUser -Name "Adam Bandola" -GivenName "Adam" -Surname "Bandola"  ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [New-ADUser], ParameterBindingException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.Commands.NewADUser

Upvotes: 0

Views: 158

Answers (1)

ArcSet
ArcSet

Reputation: 6860

Ok so lets break apart whats happening : 

New-ADUser -Name "BoB Glen" -GivenName "BoB"-Surname "Glen" 
    -DisplayName "2003487" $secpasswd = ConvertTo-SecureString 
    -String "pa$$word1" -AsPlainText -Force -AccountPassword $secpsswd 
    -Enabled $true -Path "OU=Public,DC=Company,DC=epl,DC=local"

The symbol ` is a escape character in powershell. An example of how to use it would be :

write-output " `" "

this would output : " instead of the and error : missing the terminator which would be thrown is I did " " ". you can also use it to split long commands into multiable lines like

Get-Alias`
-name "%"

In the Command you are trying to use a -whatever is a parameter and the very next thing after it as the value you are submitting to that parameter

-parameter Value

Also in powershell the $ is a variable. 

$Hello = "World"

The current issue you are having is you are calling a command and then try to create a variable in the middle of the command, as well as starting the command with a escape key and ending it with a escape key (unless its part of a larger command that you are splitting into new lines)

You can surround a value with parentheses like : (new command here)

A working command would look like this :

New-ADUser -Name "BoB Glen" -GivenName "BoB"-Surname "Glen" -DisplayName "2003487"`
    -AccountPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -String 'pa$$word1' -AsPlainText -Force)`
    -Enabled $true -Path "OU=Public,DC=Company,DC=epl,DC=local"

You will notice that the variable $secpasswd is removed, the command ConvertTo-SecureString is inside parenthesis () the first and last escape characters ` removed, added escape characters to new lines in the command to make it visually more understandable and finally put single quotes around the word pa$$word because double quotes will try and read $ as a variable, while single quotes are read literally.

Upvotes: 1

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