How to connect to Active Directory with Principal Context?

Question

I\'ve been at this for a while and I\'m always getting:

System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalServerDownException

Answer 1

If you look at the documentation for the PrincipalContext constructors, it should be quite clear:

public PrincipalContext(ContextType contextType, string name)

or

public PrincipalContext(ContextType contextType, string name, string container)

So you basically need:

• your context type (here: ContextType.Domain)
• the domain name (try just the "Netbios" name, e.g. "YOURDOMAIN" - or leave NULL for "default" domain)
• optionally a container (as an LDAP path - a "distinguished" name, full path but without any LDAP:// prefix)

So try something like this:

PrincipalContext thisPrincipalContext = 
    new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, "ESTAGIOIT");

or

PrincipalContext thisPrincipalContext = 
    new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, null);  // default domain

or

PrincipalContext thisPrincipalContext = 
    new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, "ESTAGIOIT", "DC=estagioit,DC=local");

or

PrincipalContext thisPrincipalContext = 
    new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, null, "CN=Users,DC=estagioit,DC=local");