![\"Hey,](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/02\/q-for-powertip.jpg\" "\\"Hey,")
<\/span><\/p>\nHey Scripting Guy! I have several groups created in Active Directory whose membership has changed dramatically. Rather than go through a long list of users and try to manually clean up the list, I would like to just delete all the users from the group so that I can later add the newly approved members to the group. I have checked around, and there does not seem to be a deleteall<\/b> method from a directory entry object in Windows PowerShell. Am I missing it?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
— JD<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Hey,](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/02\/a-for-powertip.jpg\" "\\"Hey,")
<\/p>\n
Hello JD, <\/p>\n
This week I (Ed) am speaking at Microsoft TechReady in Seattle. TechReady is kind of like Tech∙<\/span>Ed except it is for Microsoft employees only. I have been attending lots of sessions, completing hands-on labs, and am generally fried—<\/span>or maybe broiled (it’s very hot here right now). The bad things about conferences such as this is that it always seems that there are two sessions that both sound good that are scheduled at the same time. As a result I end up missing some really cool session that sounds great. Of course, all the sessions are recorded, and all the Microsoft PowerPoint decks are posted on a SharePoint site, but it is not quite the same as attending the live session. When I gather around a lunch table and chat with friends and co-workers, I always ask about the sessions they attended. At times my choice is confirmed, but occasionally I feel as if I really missed out on something. <\/p>\n JD, I do not want you to miss out on anything, so I wrote the Remove-AllGroupMembers.ps1 script for you. One thing you will notice is there is no deleteall<\/b> method, so you did not overlook a method. In fact, we pulled out a method we used in VBScript (putex<\/b>) to perform the magical deletion you required. The complete Remove-AllGroupMembers.ps1 script is seen here. <\/p>\n Remove-AllGroupMembers.ps1<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Param( Function Get-ScriptHelp Function Remove-AllGroupMembers Function Get-Whatif # *** Entry Point to script ***<\/p>\n if(-not($group -and $ou -and $domain)) <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n The Remove-AllGroupMembers.ps1 script begins by creating several command-line parameters. To do this, the Param<\/b> statement is used. The first three parameters are strings: the group name, the organizational unit name, and the domain name. These will need to be supplied to the script in the form of cn=groupname<\/b>. You could modify the script to change this requirement, but it rapidly becomes rather complicated in trying to figure out how many levels down a group may reside. The last two parameters are switched parameters: the whatif<\/b> and the help<\/b> parameters. The Param<\/b> section of the script is seen here: <\/p>\n Param( <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n I consider it a best practice when a script requires command-line parameters to include help information to illustrate how to actually use the script. This is useful not only for the users of your script, but also for you as well when you approach a script several months after it has been written. In Windows PowerShell 2.0, script help integrates with the Get-Help<\/b> cmdlet, and can be created using stylized tags. But in Windows PowerShell 1.0, you are limited to displaying strings to the command line. By creating minimal help for your scripts now, you are preparing yourself to migrate the script to the more robust script help available in Windows PowerShell 2.0. <\/p>\n In the Get-ScriptHelp<\/b> function, a short description of the script is displayed, as well as two representative command-line examples: <\/p>\n Function Get-ScriptHelp <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n To remove all members of a group you can use the Remove-AllGroupMembers<\/b> function. Members of a group are seen here: <\/p>\n \n
<\/span>[string]$group,
<\/span>[string]$ou,
<\/span>[string]$domain,
<\/span>[switch]$whatif,
<\/span>[switch]$help
) #end param<\/p>\n
{
<\/span>“Remove-AllGroupMembers.ps1 removes all members of a group”
<\/span>“Remove-AllGroupMembers.ps1 -group cn=mygroup -ou ou=myou -domain ‘dc=nwtraders,dc=com'”
<\/span>“Remove-AllGroupMembers.ps1 -group cn=mygroup -ou ou=myou -domain ‘dc=nwtraders,dc=com’ -whatif”
} # end function Get-ScriptHelp<\/p>\n
{
<\/span>Param(
<\/span>[string]$group,
<\/span>[string]$ou,
<\/span>[string]$domain
<\/span>) #end param
<\/span>$ads_Property_Clear = 1
<\/span>$de = [adsi]”LDAP:\/\/$group,$ou,$domain”
<\/span>$de.putex($ads_Property_Clear,”member”,$null)
<\/span>$de.SetInfo()
} # end function Remove-AllGroupMembers<\/p>\n
{
<\/span>Param(
<\/span>[string]$group,
<\/span>[string]$ou,
<\/span>[string]$domain
<\/span>) #end param
<\/span>“WHATIF: Remove all members from $group,$ou,$domain”
} #end function Get-Whatif<\/p>\n
<\/span>{ throw (“group ou and domain required”) }
if($whatif) { Get-Whatif -group $group -ou $ou -domain $domain ; exit }
if($help) { Get-Scripthelp ; exit }
“Removing all members from $group,$ou,$domain”
Remove-AllGroupMembers -group $group -ou $ou -domain $domain<\/p>\n
<\/span>[string]$group,
<\/span>[string]$ou,
<\/span>[string]$domain,
<\/span>[switch]$whatif,
<\/span>[switch]$help
) #end param<\/span><\/p>\n
{
<\/span>“Remove-AllGroupMembers.ps1 removes all members of a group”
<\/span>“Remove-AllGroupMembers.ps1 -group cn=mygroup -ou ou=myou -domain ‘dc=nwtraders,dc=com'”
<\/span>“Remove-AllGroupMembers.ps1 -group cn=mygroup -ou ou=myou -domain ‘dc=nwtraders,dc=com’ -whatif”
} # end function Get-ScriptHelp<\/span><\/p>\n
![\"Image](\"http:\/\/img.microsoft.com\/library\/media\/1033\/technet\/images\/scriptcenter\/qanda\/hsg\/2009\/july\/hey0728\/hsg-07-28-09-01.jpg\" "\\"Image")