VB.NET - How to Convert SID to Group Name with Active Directory

Brian McCarthy picture Brian McCarthy · May 2, 2011 · Viewed 12k times · Source

Using VB.NET, How do you Convert the sid to Group Name with Active Directory?

example: I need to get "group_test" and not "S-1-5-32-544"

The code I'm using is:

Public ReadOnly Property Groups As IdentityReferenceCollection
    Get

        Dim irc As IdentityReferenceCollection
        Dim ir As IdentityReference
        irc = WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().Groups
        Dim strGroupName As String

        For Each ir In irc
            Dim mktGroup As IdentityReference = ir.Translate(GetType(NTAccount))
            MsgBox(mktGroup.Value)
            Debug.WriteLine(mktGroup.Value)
            strGroupName = mktGroup.Value.ToString

        Next

        Return irc

    End Get
End Property

or something like this?

        currentUser = WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent()

        For Each refGroup As IdentityReference In currentUser.Groups

            Dim acc As NTAccount = TryCast(refGroup.Translate(GetType(NTAccount)), NTAccount)
            If AdminGroupName = acc.Value Then
                ret = "999"
            End If
            If UsersGroupName = acc.Value Then
                ret = "1"
            End If

how would u adapt it to this code? (if user is in xx group, show xx group on drop down list)

        For Each UserGroup In WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().Groups
            If mktGroup.Value = "BIG" Then
                Dim Company = ac1.Cast(Of MarketingCompany).Where(Function(ac) ac.MarketingCompanyShort = "BIG").FirstOrDefault
                If Company IsNot Nothing Then
                    marketingCo.Items.Add(String.Format("{0} | {1}", Company.MarketingCompanyShort, Company.MarketingCompanyName))
                End If
            End If
        Next

Answer

meir picture meir · May 5, 2011

Code in C#:

    public static string GetGroupNameBySid(string sid)
    {
        using(var ctx = 
            new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain))
        {
            using(var group = 
                GroupPrincipal.FindByIdentity(
                    ctx, 
                    IdentityType.Sid, 
                    sid))
            {
                return group.SamAccountName;
            }
        }
    }

You must add assembly System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.dll. If you have any troubles with connection to AD, you can try adding AD server name in PrincipalContext constructor.