If you’re a server administrator, you know that adding an AD search shortcut to your start menu is a great way to speed up your search process. This article will show you how to add an AD search shortcut to your start menu in Server 2008. First, open the Start Menu and type “cmd” into the search bar. Then, click on the “cmd” icon and select “add program.” In the Add Program dialog box, type “adsearch” and click on the “add” button. Now, when you open the “adsearch” program, you’ll see a list of options at the top of the screen. You can choose one of these options to add a shortcut to your start menu:

  1. Right-click on the “adsearch” program icon and select “show hidden files.” This will show you all of the files that are hidden on your server. You can then select one of these files and click on the “add file” button.
  2. Right-click on the “adsearch” program icon and select “properties.” This will show you all of the properties that are associated with this program. You can then select one of these properties and click on the “add property” button.
  3. Right-click on the “adsearch” program icon and select “show advanced options.” This will show you all of the advanced options that are associated with this program. You can then select one of these options and click on the “add advanced option” button.

We’ll start by right-clicking on the desktop and choosing New | Shortcut.

Next, we’ll enter our shortcut path, “rundll32 dsquery,OpenQueryWindow”

 

Now we just need to rename our shortcut. Right-click and choose Rename.

Once we have a memorable name, we’ll want to right-click the shortcut and select Pin to Start Menu.

Now when we go to our Start Menu, we see our new shortcut right at the top. Once we click on it…

…it takes us directly to the Active Directory Find Box.

 

This shortcut saves us precious seconds, and saving time is always a great thing for system admins.