title: How to import a groups members using 'ldifde'?
body: <p>I have two domains. One production. One testing. There is no trust between the two.</p>
  
  <p>I can import all user objects and group objects successfully using ldifde commands. When I attempt to also include group members in my export/import I can't seem to successfully import.</p>
  
  <p>Here are the variations I have tried:</p>
  
  <p>Attempt 1:</p>
  
  <pre><code>file format:
  dn: CN=Group-name,OU=Groups,OU=Managed,DC=dev,DC=net
  changetype: add
  member: CN=USER1,OU=Users,OU=Managed,DC=dev,DC=net
  member: CN=USER2,OU=Users,OU=Managed,DC=dev,DC=net
  
  ldifde command used:
  ldifde -i -k -f groupexp12072012-test.ldf -v
  
  output:
  Connecting to "DC"
  Logging in as current user using SSPI
  Importing directory from file "groupexp12072012-test.ldf"
  Loading entries
  1: CN=Group-name,OU=Groups,OU=Managed,DC=dev,DC=net
  
  Add error on line 1: Object Class Violation
  The server side error is "The object class attribute must be specified."
  0 entries modified successfully.
  An error has occurred in the program
  No log files were written.  In order to generate a log file, please
  specify the log file path via the -j option.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Attempt 2:
  Added in the correct objectClass to my ldifde import file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>file format:
  dn: CN=Group-name,OU=Groups,OU=Managed,DC=dev,DC=net
  changetype: add
  objectClass: top
  objectClass: group
  member: CN=USER1,OU=Users,OU=Managed,DC=dev,DC=net
  member: CN=USER2,OU=Users,OU=Managed,DC=dev,DC=net
  
  ldifde command used:
  ldifde -i -k -f groupexp12072012-test.ldf -v
  
  output:
  Connecting to "DC"
  Logging in as current user using SSPI
  Importing directory from file "groupexp12072012-test.ldf"
  Loading entries
  1: CN=Group-name,OU=Groups,OU=Managed,DC=dev,DC=net
  Entry already exists, entry skipped
  
  0 entries modified successfully.
  
  The command has completed successfully
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Attempt 3:
  Deleted the existing group object and used the same command and format as "Attempt 2":</p>
  
  <pre><code>Connecting to "DC"
  Logging in as current user using SSPI
  Importing directory from file "groupexp12072012-test.ldf"
  Loading entries
  1: CN=Group-name,OU=Groups,OU=Managed,DC=dev,DC=net
  Object does not exist, entry skipped
  
  0 entries modified successfully.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So I'm stuck. Apparently 'ldifde' can be used to import group members - all my colleagues say it has never worked but I stumble upon MS articles that say otherwise;
  <a href="http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/nl/winserverDS/thread/089a3f3b-617f-4c66-a3fc-be543d97a612" rel="nofollow">http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/nl/winserverDS/thread/089a3f3b-617f-4c66-a3fc-be543d97a612</a></p>
  
  <p>Then I stumble on "5. LDIFDE doesn’t support changing Group Membership. You can use CSVDE or ADDUSERS.exe or DStools for Windows 2003 Editions." here:
  <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555634" rel="nofollow">http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555634</a></p>
  
  <p>Am I going crazy for no reason - will I ever succeed using 'ldifde'?</p>
  
  <p><strong>edit:</strong> Yes, I was going crazy for no reason. One of my targeted users was actually in a different OU I was specifying for 'ldifde'. Because of this, 'ldifde' would just give up and not add any members to the group.</p>