The Available Columns list of the Add/Remove Columns dialog box is empty in Active Directory Users and Computers after you install Live Communications Server 2003 (884402)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003

SYMPTOMS

When you run Active Directory Users and Computers on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based domain controller, you experience all the following symptoms:
  • If you view the Add/Remove Columns dialog box for existing organizational units, or for new organizational units that you create, the Available columns list is blank. In this scenario, the Displayed columns list contains the following entries:

    Name
    Type
    Description
    Live Communications Address

  • If you view the Add/Remove Columns dialog box for the Users container, the Builtin container, or the ForeignSecurityPrincipals container, the Available columns list is not blank. For example, if you view the Add/Remove Columns dialog box for the Users container, the Available columns list contains the following entries:

    Business Phone
    City
    Company
    Country/Region
    Department
    Display Name
    E-Mail Address
    Exchange Alias
    Exchange Mailbox Store
    First Name
    Instant Messaging Home Server
    Instant Messaging URL
    Job Title
    Last Name
    Modified
    Office
    Pre-Windows 2000 Logon Name
    State
    Target Address
    User Logon Name
    X 400 E-Mail Address
    Zip Code

    In this scenario, the Displayed columns list contains the following entries:

    Name
    Type
    Description

Therefore, you cannot add columns to the right display pane of an organizational unit in Active Directory Users and Computers.

Note To view the Add/Remove Columns dialog box of a container or of an organizational unit, follow these steps:
  1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers.
  2. Expand your domain, and then click the container or the organizational unit that you want to view.
  3. On the View menu, click Add/Remove Columns.

CAUSE

This issue occurs after you install Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003 in your domain.

This issue occurs because Live Communications Server 2003 adds the Live Communication Address column to the existing extraColumns attribute of the following object in the Active Directory directory service:

CN=organizationalUnit-Display,CN=409,CN=DisplaySpecifiers,CN=Configuration,DC=domainName,DC=com

When you view the Add/Remove Columns dialog box of an object, such as an organizational unit, a check is made to see if the extraColumns attribute of that object has any values assigned. By default, the extraColumns attribute of an object is blank. In this scenario, one of the following behaviors occurs:
  • If the extraColumns attribute of that object does have values assigned, those assigned values are used to populate the Available columns list in the Add/Remove Columns dialog box for that object.
  • If the extraColumns attribute of that object does not have values assigned, the values from the extraColumns attribute of the default-Display Active Directory object are used to populate the Available columns list in the Add/Remove Columns dialog box for that object.
Note This behavior is an OR condition and not an AND condition. Therefore, either the extraColumns attribute values from the default-Display object are used to populate the Available columns list or the extraColumns attribute values from the organizationalUnit-Display object are used to populate the Available columns list, but not both.

Therefore, because the Live Communications Server Setup program assigned a value to the extraColumns attribute from the organizationalUnit-Display object, the Available columns list displays only the values from this particular extraColumns attribute.

RESOLUTION

Warning If you use the ADSI Edit snap-in, the LDP utility, or any other LDAP version 3 client, and you incorrectly modify the attributes of Active Directory objects, you can cause serious problems. These problems may require you to reinstall Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, or both Windows and Exchange. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that occur if you incorrectly modify Active Directory object attributes can be solved. Modify these attributes at your own risk.

To resolve this issue, modify the extraColumns attribute of the organizationalUnit-Display object to contain the values from the extraColumns attribute of the default-Display object. To do this, use one of the following methods:

Method 1: Manually enter the attribute values

  1. Start the ADSI Edit tool. To do this, click Start, click Run, type adsiedit.msc, and then click OK.

    Note ADSI Edit is included with the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Support Tools. To install the Windows Support Tools, double-click the Suptools.msi file in the Support\Tools folder on the Windows Server 2003 CD.
  2. Expand Configuration [ServerName.domain.com], and then expand CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=com.
  3. Expand CN=DisplaySpecifiers, and then click CN=409.
  4. In the right pane, double-click CN=default-Display.
  5. In the Attributes list, click extraColumns, and then click Edit.
  6. Record the contents of the Values list by typing them into a text editor, such as Notepad.
  7. Click Cancel two times.
  8. In the right pane, double-click CN=organizationalUnit-Display.
  9. In the Attributes list, click extraColumns, and then click Edit.
  10. In the Value to add box, type or paste one of the values that you recorded in step 6, and then click Add. For example, type userPrincipalName,User Logon Name,0,200,0.
  11. When you have finished adding values, click OK.
  12. Click Apply, click OK, and then quit the ADSI Edit tool.
  13. Wait sufficient time for your changes to replicate throughout Active Directory.

Method 2: Import the attribute values by using LDIFDE

  1. Use the LDIFDE command to export the default-Display object attributes. To do this, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    ldifde -f source.txt -d "CN=default-Display,CN=409,CN=DisplaySpecifiers,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=com"

    Results that are similar to the following are returned:

    Connecting to "ServerName.domain.com"
Logging in as current user using SSPI
Exporting directory to file source.txt
Searching for entries...
Writing out entries.
1 entries exported

The command has completed successfully

  2. Open the Source.txt file by using a text editor, such as Notepad, and then modify the text file to have the following structure:

    dn: distinguished name of the organizationalUnit-Display object
    changetype: modify
    replace: extraColumns:
    extraColumns: postalCode,Zip Code,0,100,0
    the remaining extraColumn values exported from the default-Display object
    extraColumns: msRTCSIP-PrimaryUserAddress,Live Communications Address,1,300,0
    -

    Note Make sure that the last extraColumns entry is included because this information will overwrite the current values of the organizationalUnit-Display object extraColumns attribute. Additionally, make sure the last line of the import file includes the hyphen (-). For additional information about how this file should appear, see the example files in the "More Information" section.
  3. Save the modified Source.txt file as C:\modifiedSource.txt, and then quit Notepad.
  4. Use the LDIFDE command to import the default-Display object attributes to the organizationalUnit-Display object. To do this, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    ldifde -i -f C:\modifiedSource.txt

    Results that are similar to the following are returned:

    Connecting to "ServerName.domain.com"
Logging in as current user using SSPI
Importing directory from file "c:\modifiedsource.txt"
Loading entries...
1 entry modified successfully.

The command has completed successfully

  5. If Active Directory Users and Computers is running, close and then reopen Active Directory Users and Computers.

Method 3: Use the LCSUpdateOUExtraColumns.vbs script

You can use the LCSUpdateOUExtraColumns.vbs script in the LCS 2005 Resource Kit issue to modify the extraColumns attribute. Alternatively, you can upgrade from LCS 2003 to LCS 2005. When you upgrade to LCS 2005, the Forest Prep tool may resolve the problem. However, you may have to use the LCSUpdateOUExtraColumns.vbs script after you upgrade.

MORE INFORMATION

The following example text file illustrates an unmodified export Source.txt file:

Example export file:

dn: CN=default-Display,CN=409,CN=DisplaySpecifiers,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=com
changetype: add
objectClass: top
objectClass: displaySpecifier
cn: default-Display
distinguishedName: 
 CN=default-Display,CN=409,CN=DisplaySpecifiers,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=com
instanceType: 4
whenCreated: 20040323183607.0Z
whenChanged: 20040323183607.0Z
uSNCreated: 4228
uSNChanged: 4228
showInAdvancedViewOnly: TRUE
name: default-Display
objectGUID:: F6JnZtgZsUKszG4+QXMjQA==
adminPropertyPages: 3,{4E40F770-369C-11d0-8922-00A024AB2DBB}
adminPropertyPages: 2,{6dfe6488-a212-11d0-bcd5-00c04fd8d5b6}
adminPropertyPages: 1,{6384e23e-736d-11d1-bd0d-00c04fd8d5b6}
shellPropertyPages: 1,{f2c3faae-c8ac-11d0-bcdb-00c04fd8d5b6}
adminContextMenu: 0,{08eb4fa6-6ffd-11d1-b0e0-00c04fd8dca6}
attributeDisplayNames: description,Description
attributeDisplayNames: cn,Name
objectCategory: CN=Display-Specifier,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=com
extraColumns: postalCode,Zip Code,0,100,0
extraColumns: textEncodedORAddress,X.400 E-Mail Address,0,130,0
extraColumns: userPrincipalName,User Logon Name,0,200,0
extraColumns: title,Job Title,0,100,0
extraColumns: targetAddress,Target Address,0,100,0
extraColumns: st,State,0,100,0
extraColumns: physicalDeliveryOfficeName,Office,0,100,0
extraColumns: whenChanged,Modified,0,130,0
extraColumns: sn,Last Name,0,100,0
extraColumns: msExchIMMetaPhysicalURL,Instant Messaging URL,0,140,0
extraColumns: msExchIMPhysicalURL,Instant Messaging Home Server,0,170,0
extraColumns: givenName,First Name,0,100,0
extraColumns: homeMDB,Exchange Mailbox Store,0,100,0
extraColumns: mailNickname,Exchange Alias,0,175,0
extraColumns: mail,E-Mail Address,0,100,0
extraColumns: sAMAccountName,Pre-Windows 2000 Logon Name,0,120,0
extraColumns: displayName,Display Name,0,100,0
extraColumns: department,Department,0,150,0
extraColumns: c,Country,0,-1,0
extraColumns: company,Company,0,150,0
extraColumns: l,City,0,150,0
extraColumns: telephoneNumber,Business Phone,0,100,0
adminMultiselectPropertyPages: 1,{50d30563-9911-11d1-b9af-00c04fd8d5b0}

The following example text file illustrates the modified import modifiedSource.txt file:

Example import file

dn: CN=organizationalUnit-Display,CN=409,CN=DisplaySpecifiers,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=com
changetype: modify
replace: extraColumns
extraColumns: postalCode,Zip Code,0,100,0
extraColumns: textEncodedORAddress,X.400 E-Mail Address,0,130,0
extraColumns: userPrincipalName,User Logon Name,0,200,0
extraColumns: title,Job Title,0,100,0
extraColumns: targetAddress,Target Address,0,100,0
extraColumns: st,State,0,100,0
extraColumns: physicalDeliveryOfficeName,Office,0,100,0
extraColumns: whenChanged,Modified,0,130,0
extraColumns: sn,Last Name,0,100,0
extraColumns: msExchIMMetaPhysicalURL,Instant Messaging URL,0,140,0
extraColumns: msExchIMPhysicalURL,Instant Messaging Home Server,0,170,0
extraColumns: givenName,First Name,0,100,0
extraColumns: homeMDB,Exchange Mailbox Store,0,100,0
extraColumns: mailNickname,Exchange Alias,0,175,0
extraColumns: mail,E-Mail Address,0,100,0
extraColumns: sAMAccountName,Pre-Windows 2000 Logon Name,0,120,0
extraColumns: displayName,Display Name,0,100,0
extraColumns: department,Department,0,150,0
extraColumns: c,Country,0,-1,0
extraColumns: company,Company,0,150,0
extraColumns: l,City,0,150,0
extraColumns: telephoneNumber,Business Phone,0,100,0
extraColumns: msRTCSIP-PrimaryUserAddress,Live Communications Address,1,300,0
-

REFERENCES

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

237677 Using LDIFDE to import and export directory objects to Active Directory

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:9/27/2005
Keywords:kbtshoot kbprb KB884402 kbAudITPRO
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.