Active Directory – object Username error: The name reference is invalid


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Sometimes, in Active Directory, when there's even an Exchange environment, for some users, when you try to copy an AD user to create a new one you could got the following error: "Windows cannot create the object "Username" because: The name reference is invalid."

Active Directory - object Username error: The name reference is invalid

This issue is tipically due to the users that you are trying to copy have the following AD attribute "ShowinAddresssBook" set to a Deleted objects container ("CN=Default Global Address ListADEL:ebd91a78-78f0-4e1c-a5f2-cd321d9f3621,CN=Deleted Objects,CN=Configuration,DC=Test,DC=com").

This can occur due to a recent Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2007 decommission process. To resolve this we ran the following command from Exchange 2010 management shell:

Get-mailbox | Where {$_.AddressListMembership –like “*deleted*” | Update-Recipient

This command updated the ShowinAddresssBook attribute to a Exchange 2010 GAL and you will be able to copy the user accounts with no issues. Alternatively, you can clear out manually the ShowinAddresssBook attribute in ADUC snap-in, in the single AD user's attribute tab.