AD Recycle Bin

Source:  

https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2017/03/enable-windows-server-2016-active-directory-recycle-bin/ 

Enable Via Active Directory Admin Application (DSAC.exe) 

Using PowerShell to Enable 

Using PowerShell to enable the Active Directory Recycle Bin is equally as painless.  You use the following commandlet: 

PowerShell 

Enable-ADOptionalFeature –Identity 'CN=Recycle Bin Feature,CN=Optional Features,CN=Directory Service,CN=Windows NT,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=testlab,DC=local' –Scope ForestOrConfigurationSet –Target 'testlab.local'  

You also receive the notice in PowerShell to confirm the action. 

Testing 

I have created a testuser account in a TestOU container.  Let’s simulate an accidental deletion.  As you can see, I am about to delete the testuser account. 

It is now gone! 

Restoring Deleted Object 

To restore the object, we need to be a member of at least the Domain Admins group.  To restore a deleted object, we again utilize PowerShell.  You can see the deleted objects by running the following commandlet: 

PowerShell 

get-adobject -filter {displayname -eq "testuser"} -includedeletedobjects  

As expected, I see the testuser account. 

To restore the object we can simply run the commandlet: 

PowerShell 

get-adobject -filter {displayname -eq "testuser"} -includedeletedobjects | Restore-ADObject  

The object is restored in PowerShell with little fanfare.