Uploading pictures into ActiveDirectory remotely via PowerShell

Wishv Prajapati

October 07, 2014

All Post

One can upload pictures into PowerShell remotely. A few requirements:
1. Install RSAT; ; that’s adding the Feature in Computer Management
2. Have remote web services running on AD
3. Have sufficient access; you must be member of either the Organization Management or Recipient Management role groups to upload the pictures.
4. Have a set of photos, preferably named with the user accounts, JPGs, 96×96 and less than 10kb

Here’s what’s needed in PowerShell to get started using AD CmdLets:

Import-module ActiveDirectory
if ((Get-PSSnapin -Name ActiveDirectory -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null ){
            import-module ActiveDirectory
}

here’s how to see the existing picture for a given user:

$user = Get-ADUser [user] -Properties thumbnailphoto
$user.thumbnailphoto.length
$user.thumbnailphoto | Set-Content "C:tempJtest3a.jpg" -Encoding byte -Force

Testing in Outlook: Pictures are cached in Outlook for the duration of the session. To check whether the picture is available, one has to totally exit Outlook.

$LocalFiles = get-childitem -Path $WorkingPath -filter $TypeFilter | where {!$_.PSIsContainer}

To upload the picture, get the user:

$User = Get-ADUser -Filter {SamAccountName -eq $Name}

Let’s get the photo after resizing to 96×96 ensuring it is less than 10k

$Photo = [byte[]](Get-Content "$WorkingPath$File" -Encoding byte)
Set-ADUser $Name -Replace @{thumbnailPhoto=$Photo}