Creating a group in Active Directory using PowerShell is relatively simple when using the Active Directory module. To create a Global Distribution Group the following code can be executed:

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New-ADGroup -Name NewGlobalDG_1 -GroupScope Global -GroupCategory Distribution

When creating a Domain Local Security Group the GroupScope can be changed to DomainLocal and GroupCategory can be omitted since the default is a Security Group:

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New-ADGroup -Name NewDLSG_1 -GroupScope DomainLocal

Creating groups using the [adsi] provider is a three step process. First we bind to the OU in which the group should be created. Secondly we enter the name and the properties of the group that should be created. And by finally calling the SetInfo() method to create the group. The following code will create a group:

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$TargetOU = [adsi]'LDAP://OU=Groups,DC=jaapbrasser,DC=com'
$Group = $TargetOU.Create('group','cn=System_Operators')
$Group.put('grouptype',0x80000004)
$Group.put('samaccountname','System_Operators')
$Group.SetInfo()

To specify the Group Type a hexadecimal value is required as specified in the following MSDN article: 2.2.12 Group Type Flags. The following table lists all the possible values:

It is important to note that only four values are relevant to us when creating Active Directory accounts:

• GROUP_TYPE_ACCOUNT_GROUP – 0x00000002
• GROUP_TYPE_RESOURCE_GROUP – 0x00000004
• GROUP_TYPE_UNIVERSAL_GROUP – 0x00000008
• GROUP_TYPE_SECURITY_ENABLED – 0x80000000

To simplify the creation of groups these values can be place in a hashtable:

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$GroupType = @{
    Global      = 0x00000002
    DomainLocal = 0x00000004
    Universal   = 0x00000008
    Security    = 0x80000000
}

Using the values stored in the hash table it is now possible to create any of the three group scopes as either a distribution group or security group. The following example uses the -bor operator to combine the values to create a Universal Security Group:

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$TargetOU = [adsi]'LDAP://OU=Groups,DC=jaapbrasser,DC=com'
$Group = $TargetOU.Create('group','cn=Universal_Operators')
$Group.put('grouptype',($GroupType.Universal -bor $GroupType.Security))
$Group.put('samaccountname','Universal_Operators')
$Group.SetInfo()

That is all there is to it, using this methodology it is possible to create any type of Active Directory group using either the Active Directory module or the [adsi] type accelerator. Below I have included some links in regards to this topic.