You can browse through the Active Directory Administrative Center Navigation Pane by using the tree view, which is similar to the Active Directory Users and Computers console tree, or by using the simple list view.

Whether you use the tree view or the simple list view, you can customize your Active Directory Administrative Center navigation pane anytime by adding various containers from the local domain or poany foreign domain (that is, a domain other than the local domain that has an established trust with the local domain) to the navigation pane as separate nodes. Customizing Active Directory Administrative Center navigation pane can provide quicker access to Active Directory objects. For more information, see Manage Different Domains.

Also, to further customize the navigation pane, you can rename or remove these manually added navigation pane nodes, create duplicates of these nodes, or move them up or down in the navigation pane.

Note

You cannot customize the default local domain node.
To customize the Active Directory Administrative Center navigation pane

  1. In the Active Directory Administrative Center navigation pane, right-click the node that you want to modify. You can modify the position or name of the node, or you can create a duplicate of it.

  2. Select one of the following options:

    • Rename

    • Create duplicate node

    • Remove

    • Move up

    • Move down

Note

By using the simple list view, you can take advantage of the Most Recently Used (MRU) list. The MRU list automatically appears under a navigation node when you visit at least one container within this navigation node. You can also view the current MRU list by expanding the Active Directory Administrative Center breadcrumb bar. The MRU list always contains the last three containers that you visited within a particular navigation node. Every time that you select a particular container, this container is added to the top of the MRU list and the last container in the MRU list is removed from it.

Using the Active Directory Administrative Center breadcrumb bar

You can use the Active Directory Administrative Center breadcrumb bar to navigate directly to a specific container within a local domain or any trusted foreign domain by clicking the breadcrumb bar (which puts it in edit mode) and specifying one of the following:

  • A Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) path for the desired container, for example, LDAP://cn=Users,DC=contoso,DC=com

  • A distinguished name (also known as DN) for the desired container, for example, cn=Users,DC=contoso,DC=com

  • A hierarchical path for the desired container, for example, Active Directory Domain Services\contoso (local)\Users

Note
  • You can use the Active Directory Administrative Center breadcrumb bar to navigate directly to a specific container only if this container is stored in the domain directory partition of the local domain or the trusted foreign domain that you are managing in Active Directory Administrative Center. You cannot use the Active Directory Administrative Center breadcrumb bar to navigate directly to containers that are stored in the configuration, schema, or application directory partitions of the local or trusted foreign domains that you are managing in Active Directory Administrative Center.

  • To successfully navigate directly to a container by specifying its hierarchical path in the Active Directory Administrative Center breadcrumb bar, you must be managing the domain (local or a trusted foreign) that this container belongs to in the selected instance of Active Directory Administrative Center. However, this restriction does not apply to navigating to a specific container by specifying its LDAP path or a distinguished name in the breadcrumb bar.

    For example, if the domains contoso.com (a local domain) and fabricam.com (a foreign domain) have an established trust relationship, you can specify the LDAP paths or distinguished names of the containers in the breadcrumb bar. You can navigate successfully to the desired containers within both contoso.com and fabricam.com, regardless of whether contoso.com or fabricam.com is currently added to your Active Directory Administrative Center navigation pane. However, contoso.com and fabricam.com must be added to your navigation pane for you to navigate successfully to the containers within these domains by specifying the hierarchical paths of these containers in the breadcrumb bar.

  • You can also copy a specified LDAP path, a distinguished name, or a hierarchical path from the Active Directory Administrative Center breadcrumb bar (by right-clicking the breadcrumb bar and selecting either Copy Path or Copy Distinguished Name) or paste it into the breadcrumb bar. This can be very useful if you want to copy and paste a certain path or distinguished name from the Active Directory Administrative Center into other tools and applications, such as, for example, the Active Directory module for Windows PowerShell, an instant message window, or an e-mail message.

Additional references

  • Add Navigation Nodes Dialog Box
  • User Properties - Account Section