What is the AD DS Recycle Bin?
The Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Recycle Bin Feature provides a specialized container within the Active Directory Administrative Center (ADAC) to maintain objects recently deleted from AD DS.
This container provides an avenue to recover accidental or intentional deletions that could either destroy active account objects or negatively impact the health of the AD DS environment.
Additional Information
Reference the articles below to learn more about the AD DS - Recycle Bin Feature.
Enabling AD DS Recycle Bin
Copy the script below to a notepad so you can modify it to meet your needs.
Enable-ADOptionalFeature 'Recycle Bin Feature' -Scope ForestOrConfigurationSet -Target mydomain.local
Enter the command into an elevated PowerShell console.
Press Enter to execute the command with the supplied parameters.
The console returns a warning that enabling Recycle Bin is an irreversible action.
You’re prompted to confirm that you’d like to perform this action.
Press Y and hit Enter.
We can verify the configuration was successful by entering the below command.
Get-ADOptionalFeature 'Recycle Bin Feature' | Format-List -Property EnabledScopes
This will output all Enabled Scopes for AD DS - Recycle Bin.
Navigating to the Recycle Bin
Open up the Start Menu by pressing the WIN key.
Scroll down to Windows Administrative Tools.
Expand the drop-down menu and select Active Directory Administrative Center.
After launching ADAC, we’ll be brought to the Overview Dashboard.
In the sidebar, click the entry that shows your domain.
In my example, this is cmrlabs (local).
We can see the container called Deleted Objects within the cmrlabs (local) directory.
Within the Deleted Objects container, we can see there are no objects.
When an object like an Organizational Unit or Account (Computer or User) is deleted, it will populate here.
Recycle Bin Enabled!
We’ve successfully enabled the AD DS - Recycle Bin Feature!
Please make your way to the next section, where we’ll be configuring Administrator Accounts!