Converting contacts to users

[e***@gmail.com]

Hi

I want to convert a load of contacts to users. Is there an easy way to
do this, or do I have to create a new user based on the old contact's
properties? I have started down the latter route, by writing a script
to add attribute values from the contact to the user. The trouble is,
I'm not sure which are the key attributes to move over. There are a
load of Exchange attributes, for example. Do I need to move these over
too or will Exchange populate them for me? Also, do I need to delete
the contact before I create the user, to make sure I'm not trying to
duplicate any unique values?

Cheers
Mundo

[Tomasz Onyszko]

Post by e***@gmail.com
Hi
I want to convert a load of contacts to users. Is there an easy way to
do this, or do I have to create a new user based on the old contact's
properties? I have started down the latter route, by writing a script
to add attribute values from the contact to the user. The trouble is,
I'm not sure which are the key attributes to move over. There are a
load of Exchange attributes, for example. Do I need to move these over
too or will Exchange populate them for me? Also, do I need to delete
the contact before I create the user, to make sure I'm not trying to
duplicate any unique values?

You have to create new users - there is no way to convert contact into
user.

[e***@gmail.com]

Thanks Tomasz. Any idea how I decide which attributes to copy to the
new user? And do I have to delete the contact before I can create the
user?
Cheers, Mundo

Post by Tomasz Onyszko
You have to create new users - there is no way to convert contact into
user.

[Tomasz Onyszko]

Post by e***@gmail.com
Thanks Tomasz. Any idea how I decide which attributes to copy to the
new user? And do I have to delete the contact before I can create the
user?

If You want to use the same CN in the same OU You have to delete contact
first, but You can create users in different OU, check if everything was
properly created and than at the end delete these contacts.

[e***@gmail.com]

Post by Tomasz Onyszko
You can create users in different OU, check if everything was
properly created and than at the end delete these contacts.

When I tried a test contact, creating a new user in a different OU, it
complained that the object already exists. When I removed the line that
set the sAMAccountName, it added the user OK, creating its own
sAMAccountName. But the original contact doesn't have a sAMAccountName
attribute, so why is it complaining?