Develop Reference

How to assign site for new user via Kentico API

I'm trying to create a new Kentico user and assigning them to a site, via Kentico API: https://docs.kentico.com/api11/configuration/users#Users-Assigningausertoasite
In my case SiteContext.CurrentSiteName returns empty string. I thought of trying by hard coding the site.
UserInfor newUser = new UserInfo();
//...set all required properties...
//add user to site
UserInfoProvider.AddUserToSite(newUser.UserName, "My Site Code(or Display) Name");
//save user
UserInfoProvider.SetUserInfo(newUser);
Tried both Display Name as well as Code Name of the site in UserInfoProvider.AddUserToSite, but the user is not getting assigned to the site on Kentico site. It does get created with all the properties.

You have to use SiteInfoProvider to get the site code name
var si = SiteInfoProvider.GetSites()
.WhereEquals("SiteId",123)
.FirstOrDefault();
UserInfoProvider.AddUserToSite(newUser.UserName, si.SiteName);

Just had to add user to the site after saving the user.
//save user
UserInfoProvider.SetUserInfo(newUser);
//add user to site
UserInfoProvider.AddUserToSite(newUser.UserName, "My Site Code Name (not display name)");

Getting "Access is denied." when trying to update UserPrincipal object

I have a SharePoint solution with a custom application where a user should be able to change some properties in his own Active Directory object.
I am doing the following:
PrincipalContext ctx = ActiveDirectory.GetPrincipalContext("lab");
UserPrincipal user = ActiveDirectory.GetUserPrincipal(ctx, "Administrator");
user.DisplayName = user.DisplayName + DateTime.Now.ToString("ddMMyyyyHHmmss");
user.Save();
I am logged in to SharePoint as the domain administrator and i am trying to change my own DisplayName.
What is wrong with my code?
Update 20.04.2016
I have built a small Console Application with the following code:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
try
{
PrincipalContext ctx = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, "lab");
UserPrincipal user = UserPrincipal.FindByIdentity(ctx, "administrator");
DirectoryEntry de = (user.GetUnderlyingObject() as DirectoryEntry);
user.DisplayName = user.DisplayName + DateTime.Now.ToString("ddMMyyyyHHmmss");
user.Save();
Console.WriteLine("OK");
Console.ReadKey();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
}
This works fine! That means normally, that the Authentication goes wrong or the user which is logged into SharePoint is not getting used to connect to AD and do the changes. If this could be the case, how could i find out with which user i am doing the operation?
Update 20.04.2016 - 2
I have now tried to put the username and password in the PrincipalContext contructor as below:
PrincipalContext ctx = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, "lab", "administrator", "pass");
This works, too! That means now definitely, that the user which is logged in to SharePoint is not used to create the PrincipalContext. But why? Normally code is always executed in the context of the current user!?
How can i find out which user is used to create the PrincipalContext and how can i change it that the logged in user is getting used?

I had the same problem, I resolved it like this:
In IIS, in the advanced settings of my app -> In Identity I add my service account (example: domain\service-account)
In my active directory, I give to this service account full control on folder and sub-folder where I want to create/update user (you need to modify view to see security tab -> right click -> view -> advanced features)
If you already have that, check if your service account is not disabled
And now everything is working :)

A reliable way to obtain the Windows user display name

I need to get the Display Name of the current user, and cannot find a solution that always works. Just for clarity, I'm not looking for the username. I need the "John Doe". The value displayed on the Start Menu.
There are many posts about this question however none have solved my problem.
Get Windows User Display Name
How do I get the AD Display Name of the currently logged in user
These two posts lead me to:
PrincipalContext context = domain.Equals(Environment.MachineName, StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase) ?
new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Machine) :
new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, domain);
UserPrincipal userPrincipal = new UserPrincipal(context) { SamAccountName = username };
PrincipalSearcher searcher = new PrincipalSearcher(userPrincipal);
userPrincipal = searcher.FindOne() as UserPrincipal;
string displayName = userPrincipal.DisplayName;
And this code works for the most part. However if the user's has disabled/stopped the Server service on his/her computer I get an exception saying "The Server service is not started."
System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.UserPrincipal.Current.DisplayName
Same error.
How to get logged-in user's full name in windows?
StringBuilder name = new StringBuilder(1024);
uint userNameSize = (uint)name.Capacity;
const int NameDisplay = 3;
GetUserNameEx(NameDisplay, name, ref userNameSize)
Returns no error, but an empty string if the user is not on a domain.
How do you read the user's display (first and last) name on all versions of Windows reliably?
// get SAM compatible name <server/machine>\\<username>
if (0 != GetUserNameEx(2, username, ref userNameSize))
{
IntPtr bufPtr;
try
{
string domain = Regex.Replace(username.ToString(), #"(.+)\\.+", #"$1");
DirectoryContext context = new DirectoryContext(DirectoryContextType.Domain, domain);
DomainController dc = DomainController.FindOne(context);
if (0 == NetUserGetInfo(dc.IPAddress,
Regex.Replace(username.ToString(), #".+\\(.+)", "$1"),
10, out bufPtr))
{
var userInfo = (USER_INFO_10) Marshal.PtrToStructure(bufPtr, typeof (USER_INFO_10));
return Regex.Replace(userInfo.usri10_full_name, #"(\S+), (\S+)", "$2 $1");
}
}
finally
{
NetApiBufferFree(out bufPtr);
}
}
With the above I get an ActiveDirectoryObjectNotFoundException with message "Domain controller not found in the domain.." when DomainController.FindOne is called.
I haven't found a registry setting for the display name.
I'm don't know what else to try. Please help.

All of the above methods will only work if you are on a domain. If you are not, then you must rely on the local user account store. The following details how to retrieve this info: How can I get a list Local Windows Users (Only the Users that appear in the windows Logon Screen). In a domain situation though, the users account will not be in the local store.
If you are on a domain but not connected to the domain controller, the Display Name will not be readily available to you. This information is stored on the domain controller, not the local user's computer. If your users are on a domain, they really shouldn't be able to disable the Server service(use GPOs). Also, they lose much more than the ability to retrieve their user account by disabling that service.
I would check for domain availability before trying to get the display name. If it fails, display a message indicating the failure. There are potentially too many edges cases here to make it work accounting for all of them. Go with the scenario that you intend the program to be used under, and give an error message for the others.

How to get logged in user name?

I want to take the current logged in user name (windows user) using c#, i have done the following.
Create one web application
Published the web application
Created the site in iis and given the physical path
when i try to get the user name , am getting the application pool name as current user name, i have used the below line of code. and i have given the anonymous access for this site.
string username = System.Environment.UserName.ToString();

WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent()
If you are using membership then,
MembershipUser currentUser = Membership.GetUser();
//Get Username of Currently logged in user
string username = currentUser.UserName;
//Get UserId of Currently logged in user
string UserId = currentUser.ProviderUserKey.ToString();
http://www.aspdotnet-suresh.com/2011/01/how-can-we-get-username-and-userid-of.html

Active Directory: Get RootDSE in domain residing in Forest with multiple roots?

I have a client that's utilizing a windows service I wrote that polls a specified active directory LDAP server for users in specified groups within that LDAP server.
Once it finds a user, it fills out the user information (i.e. username, email, etc.) and attempts to retrieve the user's domain within that LDAP server.
When I attempt to retrieve the user's domain for this specific client, I'm hitting a DirectoryServicesCOMException: Logon failure: unkonwn user name or bad password.
This exception is being thrown when I attempt to reference a property on the RootDSE DirectoryEntry object I instantiate.
This client has a Forest with two roots, setup as follows.
Active Directory Domains and Trusts
ktregression.com
ktregression.root
I assume this is the issue.
Is there any way around this? Any way to still retrieve the netbiosname of a specific domain object without running into this exception?
Here is some sample code pointing to a test AD server setup as previously documented:
string domainNameLdap = "dc=tempe,dc=ktregression,dc=com";
DirectoryEntry RootDSE = new DirectoryEntry (#"LDAP://10.32.16.6/RootDSE");
DirectoryEntry servers2 = new DirectoryEntry (#"LDAP://cn=Partitions," + RootDSE.Properties["configurationNamingContext"].Value ); //*****THIS IS WHERE THE EXCEPTION IS THROWN********
//Iterate through the cross references collection in the Partitions container
DirectorySearcher clsDS = new DirectorySearcher(servers2);
clsDS.Filter = "(&(objectCategory=crossRef)(ncName=" + domainNameLdap + "))";
clsDS.SearchScope = SearchScope.Subtree;
clsDS.PropertiesToLoad.Add("nETBIOSName");
List<string> bnames = new List<string>();
foreach (SearchResult result in clsDS.FindAll() )
bnames.Add(result.Properties["nETBIOSName"][0].ToString());

It seems that the user account with which the Active Directory tries to authenticate "you" does not exist as your DirectoryServicesCOMException reports it.
DirectoryServicesCOMException: Logon failure: unkonwn user name or bad password.
Look at your code sample, it seems you're not using impersonation, hence the security protocol of the Active Directory take into account the currently authenticated user. Make this user yourself, then if you happen not to be defined on both of your domain roots, one of them doesn't know you, which throws this kind of exception.
On the other hand, using impersonation might solve the problem here, since you're saying that your Windows Service account has the rights to query both your roots under the same forest, then you have to make sure the authenticated user is your Windows Service.
In clear, this means that without impersonation, you cannot guarantee that the authenticated user IS your Windows Service. To make sure about it, impersonation is a must-use.
Now, regarding the two roots
ktregression.com;
ktregression.root.
These are two different and independant roots. Because of this, I guess you should go with two instances of the DirectoryEntry class fitting one for each root.
After having instantiated the roots, you need to search for the user you want to find, which shall be another different userName than the one that is impersonated.
We now have to state whether a user can be defined on both roots. If it is so, you will need to know when it is better to choose one over the other. And that is of another concern.
Note
For the sake of simplicity, I will take it that both roots' name are complete/full as you mentioned them.
private string _dotComRootPath = "LDAP://ktregression.com";
private string _dotRootRootPath = "LDAP://ktregression.root";
private string _serviceAccountLogin = "MyWindowsServiceAccountLogin";
private string _serviceAccountPwd = "MyWindowsServiceAccountPassword";
public string GetUserDomain(string rootPath, string login) {
string userDomain = null;
using (DirectoryEntry root = new DirectoryEntry(rootPath, _serviceAccountLogin, _serviceAccountPwd))
using (DirectorySearcher searcher = new DirectorySearcher()) {
searcher.SearchRoot = root;
searcher.SearchScope = SearchScope.Subtree;
searcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("nETBIOSName");
searcher.Filter = string.Format("(&(objectClass=user)(sAMAccountName={0}))", login);
SearchResult result = null;
try {
result = searcher.FindOne();
if (result != null)
userDomain = (string)result.GetDirectoryEntry()
.Properties("nETBIOSName").Value;
} finally {
dotComRoot.Dispose();
dotRootRoot.Dispose();
if (result != null) result.Dispose();
}
}
return userDomain;
}
And using it:
string userDomain = (GetUserDomain(_dotComRoot, "searchedLogin")
?? GetUserDomain(_dotRootRoot, "searchedLogin"))
?? "Unknown user";
Your exception is thrown only on the second DirectoryEntry initilization which suggests that your default current user doesn't have an account defined on this root.
EDIT #1
Please see my answer to your other NetBIOS Name related question below:
C# Active Directory: Get domain name of user?
where I provide a new and probably easier solution to your concern.
Let me know if you have any further question. =)

I believe that the DirectoryEntry has properties to specify for an AD account that can perform LDAP queries or updates, you can also delegate that control down from your parent domain.