Consider the following properties as set up in Active Directory for a user:
In my winforms application I would like to show the Display Name of the user who is currently logged on and using the application. How would I go about retrieving this information?
Since you're on .NET 4, you can use the System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement
(S.DS.AM) namespace. Read all about it here:
- Managing Directory Security Principals in the .NET Framework 3.5
- MSDN docs on System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement
Basically, you can define a domain context and easily find users and/or groups in AD:
// set up domain context
PrincipalContext ctx = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain);
// find currently logged in user
UserPrincipal user = UserPrincipal.Current;
string displayName = user.DisplayName;
The new S.DS.AM makes it really easy to play around with users and groups in AD.
After hours of searching for the simplest way I finally came across this
System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.UserPrincipal.Current.DisplayName;
I wanted to get it out there for more people like me.