Problem
You want to get and list the properties of a specific user account.
Solution
To list the properties of a user account, use the [adsi] type shortcut to bind to the user in Active Directory, and then pass the user to the FormatList cmdlet: $user = [adsi] "LDAP://localhost:389/cn=MyerKen,ou=West,ou=Sales,dc=Fabrikam,dc=COM"
$user | FormatList *
Discussion
The solution retrieves the MyerKen user from the Sales West OU. By default, the FormatList cmdlet shows only the distinguished name of the user, so we type FormatList * to display all properties.
If you know the property for which you want the value, specify it by name:
PS >$user.DirectReports CN=SmithRobin,OU=West,OU=Sales,DC=Fabrikam,DC=COM CN=DoeJane,OU=West,OU=Sales,DC=Fabrikam,DC=COM
Unlike users, some types of Active Directory objects don’t allow you to retrieve their properties by name this way. Instead, you must call the Get() method to retrieve specific properties:
PS >$user.Get("userPrincipalName") Ken.Myer@fabrikam.com