Active Directory – Update user’s co and countryCode attributes using PowerShell

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I recently faced an issue where users are provisioned to AD using an user system/tool that applies the Country value to the user while creating the account but it doesn’t have the ability to update the countryCode and co attributes. And I had few thousand users with no value set in the co and countryCode attributes.

In this post, I’ll cover the details on how came up with a workaround for this issue.

The AD attributes we are dealing with here are,

  • c (Country-Name): ISO-3166 2-digit string value
  • countryCode (Country-Code): ISO-3166 Integer value
  • co (Text-Country): Open string value

When we pick a country name from the drop-down in the Active Directory users and computers GUI, the c, co and countryCode attributes are automatically assigned.

With PowerShell, we can use the Set-ADUser to assign the c attribute to the user,

$user = Read-Host "Enter user's logon"
Set-ADUser -Identity $user -Country US

In this method, no values are assigned to the co and countryCode attributes automatically like how it happened while updating in the GUI. Below are the screenshots of the user properties after running the above cmdlet.

We can use this method to assign all three values for the user,

$user = Read-Host "Enter user's logon"
Set-ADUser -identity $user -Replace @{c="CN";co="United States";countryCode="840"}

In my scenario, the users provisioned by the tool already had the c attribute value set. I exported all users from the AD domain, determined the countries and then used the below script to update the co and countryCode attributes.

$users = Get-ADUser -LDAPFilter '(!userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2)' -Properties * | Select cn, sAMAccountName, userPrincipalName, c

foreach ($User in $Users){
        if($user.c -eq 'AU') {
            Set-ADuser $user.sAMAccountName -Replace @{co="Australia";countrycode="36"}
        }
        elseif ($user.c -eq 'US') {
	        Set-ADuser $user.sAMAccountName -Replace @{co="United States";countrycode="840"}
        }
        elseif ($user.c -eq 'GB') {
	        Set-ADuser $user.sAMAccountName -Replace @{co="United Kingdom";countrycode="826"}
        }
        elseif ($user.c -eq 'CA') {
	    Set-ADuser $user.sAMAccountName -Replace @{co="Canada";countrycode="124"}
        }
        else {
            Write-Host $user.cn does not contain Country value
    }
}

This table at the end of this post provides all countries in the AD address tab Country/region drop-down list. You can use this to update the above script according to your needs. I also made this script to be run as a scheduled task to run once a week to update the new users created throughout the week. Not a perfect solution but replacing the user provisioning tool wasn’t an option in my case, hence I stuck with this method.

Hope this post helped you in better understanding the c, co and countryCode attributes in AD and an easier method to update it.

Thank you for stopping by ✌

Country (co)Code (c)Code
AfghanistanAF4
Åland IslandsAX248
AlbaniaAL8
AlgeriaDZ12
American SamoaAS16
AndorraAD20
AngolaAO24
AnguillaAI660
AntarcticaAQ10
Antigua and BarbudaAG28
ArgentinaAR32
ArmeniaAM51
ArubaAW533
AustraliaAU36
AustriaAT40
AzerbaijanAZ31
Bahamas, TheBS44
BahrainBH48
BangladeshBD50
BarbadosBB52
BelarusBY112
BelgiumBE56
BelizeBZ84
BeninBJ204
BermudaBM60
BhutanBT64
BoliviaBO68
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and SabaBQ535
Bosnia and HerzegovinaBA70
BotswanaBW72
Bouvet IslandBV74
BrazilBR76
British Indian Ocean TerritoryIO86
British Virgin IslandsVG92
BruneiBN96
BulgariaBG100
Burkina FasoBF854
BurundiBI108
Cabo VerdeCV132
CambodiaKH116
CameroonCM120
CanadaCA124
Cayman IslandsKY136
Central African RepublicCF140
ChadTD148
ChileCL152
ChinaCN156
Christmas IslandCX162
Cocos (Keeling) IslandsCC166
ColombiaCO170
ComorosKM174
CongoCG178
Congo (DRC)CD180
Cook IslandsCK184
Costa RicaCR188
Côte d’IvoireCI384
CroatiaHR191
CubaCU192
CuraçaoCW531
CyprusCY196
Czech RepublicCZ203
DenmarkDK208
DjiboutiDJ262
DominicaDM212
Dominican RepublicDO214
EcuadorEC218
EgyptEG818
El SalvadorSV222
Equatorial GuineaGQ226
EritreaER232
EstoniaEE233
EthiopiaET231
Falkland IslandsFK238
Faroe IslandsFO234
FijiFJ242
FinlandFI246
FranceFR250
French GuianaGF254
French PolynesiaPF258
French Southern TerritoriesTF260
GabonGA266
GambiaGM270
GeorgiaGE268
GermanyDE276
GhanaGH288
GibraltarGI292
GreeceGR300
GreenlandGL304
GrenadaGD308
GuadeloupeGP312
GuamGU316
GuatemalaGT320
GuernseyGG831
GuineaGN324
Guinea-BissauGW624
GuyanaGY328
HaitiHT332
Heard and McDonald IslandsHM334
HondurasHN340
Hong Kong SARHK344
HungaryHU348
IcelandIS352
IndiaIN356
IndonesiaID360
IranIR364
IraqIQ368
IrelandIE372
Isle of ManIM833
IsraelIL376
ItalyIT380
JamaicaJM388
Jan MayenSJ744
JapanJP392
JerseyJE832
JordanJO400
KazakhstanKZ398
KenyaKE404
KiribatiKI296
KoreaKR410
KosovoXK906
KuwaitKW414
KyrgyzstanKG417
LaosLA418
LatviaLV428
LebanonLB422
LesothoLS426
LiberiaLR430
LibyaLY434
LiechtensteinLI438
LithuaniaLT440
LuxembourgLU442
Macao SARMO446
Macedonia, FYROMK807
MadagascarMG450
MalawiMW454
MalaysiaMY458
MaldivesMV462
MaliML466
MaltaMT470
Marshall IslandsMH584
MartiniqueMQ474
MauritaniaMR478
MauritiusMU480
MayotteYT175
MexicoMX484
MicronesiaFM583
MoldovaMD498
MonacoMC492
MongoliaMN496
MontenegroME499
MontserratMS500
MoroccoMA504
MozambiqueMZ508
MyanmarMM104
NamibiaNA516
NauruNR520
NepalNP524
NetherlandsNL528
New CaledoniaNC540
New ZealandNZ554
NicaraguaNI558
NigerNE562
NigeriaNG566
NiueNU570
Norfolk IslandNF574
North KoreaKP408
Northern Mariana IslandsMP580
NorwayNO578
OmanOM512
PakistanPK586
PalauPW585
Palestinian AuthorityPS275
PanamaPA591
Papua New GuineaPG598
ParaguayPY600
PeruPE604
PhilippinesPH608
Pitcairn IslandsPN612
PolandPL616
PortugalPT620
Puerto RicoPR630
QatarQA634
ReunionRE638
RomaniaRO642
RussiaRU643
RwandaRW646
Saint BarthélemyBL652
Saint Kitts and NevisKN659
Saint LuciaLC662
Saint MartinMF663
Saint Pierre and MiquelonPM666
Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesVC670
SamoaWS882
San MarinoSM674
São Tomé and PríncipeST678
Saudi ArabiaSA682
SenegalSN686
SerbiaRS688
Serbia and Montenegro (Former)CS891
SeychellesSC690
Sierra LeoneSL694
SingaporeSG702
Sint MaartenSX534
SlovakiaSK703
SloveniaSI705
Solomon IslandsSB90
SomaliaSO706
South AfricaZA710
South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsGS239
SpainES724
Sri LankaLK144
St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da CunhaSH654
SudanSD736
SurinameSR740
SvalbardSJ744
SwazilandSZ748
SwedenSE752
SwitzerlandCH756
SyriaSY760
TaiwanTW158
TajikistanTJ762
TanzaniaTZ834
ThailandTH764
Timor-LesteTL626
TogoTG768
TokelauTK772
TongaTO776
Trinidad and TobagoTT780
TunisiaTN788
TurkeyTR792
TurkmenistanTM795
Turks and Caicos IslandsTC796
TuvaluTV798
U.S. Minor Outlying IslandsUM581
U.S. Virgin IslandsVI850
UgandaUG800
UkraineUA804
United Arab EmiratesAE784
United KingdomGB826
United StatesUS840
UruguayUY858
UzbekistanUZ860
VanuatuVU548
Vatican CityVA336
VenezuelaVE862
VietnamVN704
Wallis and FutunaWF876
YemenYE887
ZambiaZM894
ZimbabweZW716

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