[.NET] Small tool for Azure AD to AD User Write back

Published: at 12:00 AM

Azure AD Sync is an instrumental resource for forging a hybrid cloud model and facilitating password write-back. However, if your organization requires user write-back functionality, Azure AD Sync alone will not suffice.

Solution

To address this need, I have developed a tool that implements user write-back functionality. With this self-contained tool, you can specify which users in which Azure groups should be written back and determine the Organizational Unit (OU) and AD group where users should be assigned.

Configuration

  1. Create an Application Registration (e.g., named ‘azure-adds-user-write-back’) with Microsoft Graph API permission set to Group.Read.All and User.Read.All.
  2. Update the information in appsettings.json as follows:
{
  "AzAdSync": {
    "Authority": "https://login.microsoftonline.com/[TenantId]",
    "ClientId": "[ClientId]",
    "ClientSecret": "[ClientSecret]",
    "AzureAdGroups": ["The Azure AD groups would like to write back"],
    "AdOrgUnit": "The OU of ADDS for write-back users."
  }
}

Tool Tech-stack

This application is developed using the .NET Core framework. You can build the project as a Window-x64 single file, self-contained. After that, you will be able to copy and run it on any domain-joined computer without needing the .NET runtime.

To install the app as a window service, run sc.exe create "AADS Users WriteBack" binpath=[Path To]\Azure.ADDS.UserWriteBack.exe. Ensure that the Logon account is updated with a Windows account with permission to create ADDS objects, and switch the start type to Automatic.

Please note that the log files will be writing to the C:\Windows\System32\Logs folder.

The application will check and sync users from AzureAdGroups every 1 hour. Upon successful write-back of the user account to ADDS, the account owner must reset their password since the application generates a random password of 50 length characters.

This password is just a temporary password as it will be overwritten with the latest password once users changed their password in Azure AD by the password write-back of AD-AAD Sync.

Source Code

The source code is accessible at this Github repository: https://github.com/baoduy/Azure.ADDS.UserWriteBack. Please adjust the steps and instructions to match your actual tool’s requirements and behavior.

Thank You

Thank you for taking the time to read this guide! I hope it has been helpful, feel free to explore further, and happy coding! 🌟✨

Steven | GitHub