Cannot set manager attribute using ADSI in PowerShell

Question

I update some user information in AD from an HR database.

Text fields or the photo works fine:

$user.Put("telephoneNumber", "1234")
$user.Put("thumbnailPhoto", $binaryfile)
$user.SetInfo()

But I also have to set the manager and tried

$user.Put("manager", "MYDOMAIN\MYUSERNAME")

or

$user.Put("manager", "MYUSERNAME")

That gives the following error:

Exception calling "setinfo" with "0" argument(s): "An invalid dn syntax has been specified."

What's the correct syntax to update the manager using ADSI?

Answer 1

As the error message suggests: the manager attribute expects a distinguished name (dn), not a user logon name, so you need to get the manager's dn first and then put that value into the manager attribute.

$manager = 'MYUSERNAME'

#...

$searcher = New-Object DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher(([adsi]''))
$searcher.Filter = "(&(objectClass=user)(objectCategory=person)(sAMAccountName=${manager}))"
$dn = $searcher.FindOne().Properties['distinguishedName'][0]

#...

$user.Put('manager', $dn)
$user.SetInfo()