Deleting User Shares

Question

I need to delete several user shares when I delete AD accounts (more than just a simple home drive deletion, we also need to delete terminal services profiles, and other things for custom apps). I have created some custom commands that as simple powershell scripts that run the following code

Remove-Item \\server\share\%username% -Force -Confirm:$False

As a part of the AD Account deletion scheduled task, I have set these custom commands to run as a part of the task.

Everything in the account deletion process works, except for these custom commands. I think the problem may have to do with the fact that the account is deleted before these commands are run, therefore the commands don't work because they don't recognize the user account (since it is no longer present).

The adaxes activity history shows a failed status for the cusom command, and the execution log shows "Could not find a part of the path \\server\share\'.".

It's seems like it's leaving the %username% field empty. These custom commands work just fine when I test them by themselves with sample accounts.

Thoughts?

Answer 1

Hello,

When a Scheduled Task is run on a user, value references contained in all the actions of the Scheduled Task are resolved before performing any actions. However, if a Scheduled Task launches any Custom Commands, value references are resolved for each Custom Command separately before executing the Custom Command. Since Custom Commands are executed after deleting a user, the account does not exist already, and the %username% value reference cannot be resolved.

To remedy the issue, you can execute the PowerShell scripts directly from the Scheduled Task by adding to the Task the Run a program or PowerShell script actions launching the necessary scripts. In this case, the %username% value reference in your scripts will be resolved before the Scheduled Task performs any actions. To insert the necessary Run a program or PowerShell script actions to your Scheduled Task, you may just copy and paste them from your Custom Commands.

Comments

Perfect, I'll give that a try and report back! Thanks!

EDIT: Perfect, worked like a charm! Thanks!