NetBIOS domain of computer in PowerShell

Question

How can I get the NetBIOS (aka 'short') domain name of the current computer from PowerShell?

$ENV:USERDOMAIN displays the domain of the current user, but I want the domain that the current machine is a member of.

I've discovered you can do it pretty easily in VBScript, but apparently ADSystemInfo isn't very nice to use in PowerShell.

Update

Here's my final solution incorporating the suggestion of using Win32_NTDomain, but filtering to the current machine's domain

$wmiDomain = Get-WmiObject Win32_NTDomain -Filter "DnsForestName = '$( (Get-WmiObject Win32_ComputerSystem).Domain)'"
$domain = $wmiDomain.DomainName

Solution 1

In most cases, the default NetBIOS domain name is the leftmost label in the DNS domain name up to the first 15 bytes (NetBIOS names have a limit of 15 bytes). The NetBIOS domain name may be changed during the installation of the Active Directory, but it cannot be changed.

The WIN32_ComputerSystem WMI object gives informations on a Windows computer

PS C:\> Get-WmiObject Win32_ComputerSystem

Domain              : WORKGROUP
Manufacturer        : Hewlett-Packard
Model               : HP EliteBook 8530w (XXXXXXXXX)
Name                : ABCHPP2
PrimaryOwnerName    : ABC
TotalPhysicalMemory : 4190388224

So the domain Name is given by :

PS C:\> (gwmi WIN32_ComputerSystem).Domain

But in domain installation, the DNS name is given. In this case, you can use nbtstat -n command to find the NetBIOS domain name which is displayed like this <DOMAIN><1B>.

The PowerShell Command may be :

nbtstat -n | Select-String -Pattern "^ *(.*) *<1B>.*$" | % {$_ -replace '^ *(.*) *<1B>.*$','$1'}

Here is another way using WMI

PS C:\> (gwmi Win32_NTDomain).DomainName

Solution 2

Use env: to get environment settings through PowerShell

NetBIOS: $env:userdomain

FQDN: $env:userdnsdomain

To see all the values:

dir env:  (no $)

Solution 3

import-module activedirectory
(Get-ADDomain -Identity (Get-WmiObject Win32_ComputerSystem).Domain).NetBIOSName

Solution 4

From Here

# Retrieve Distinguished Name of current domain.
$Domain = [System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory.Domain]::GetCurrentDomain()
$Root = $Domain.GetDirectoryEntry()
$Base = ($Root.distinguishedName)

# Use the NameTranslate object.
$objTrans = New-Object -comObject "NameTranslate"
$objNT = $objTrans.GetType()

# Invoke the Init method to Initialize NameTranslate by locating
# the Global Catalog. Note the constant 3 is ADS_NAME_INITTYPE_GC.
$objNT.InvokeMember("Init", "InvokeMethod", $Null, $objTrans, (3, $Null))

# Use the Set method to specify the Distinguished Name of the current domain.
# Note the constant 1 is ADS_NAME_TYPE_1779.
$objNT.InvokeMember("Set", "InvokeMethod", $Null, $objTrans, (1, "$Base"))

# Use the Get method to retrieve the NetBIOS name of the current domain.
# Note the constant 3 is ADS_NAME_TYPE_NT4.
# The value retrieved includes a trailing backslash.
$strDomain = $objNT.InvokeMember("Get", "InvokeMethod", $Null, $objTrans, 3)

Solution 5

OP is after "computer domain" so the answer would be $GetComputerDomain (below) but I will add the $GetUserDomain also for reference.

$GetComputerDomain = ([System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory.Domain]::GetComputerDomain()).Name
$GetUserDomain = ([System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory.Domain]::GetCurrentDomain()).Name

I find the wmi (gwmi) option to be extremely slow, especially, when you are querying the Win32_NTDomain class. I have a multi-trusted domain environment and it takes forever when I just need that simple info quick.

View more solutions

Comments

[Thad]

I already tried that approach and it doesn't work. The 'Domain' property is not the short/NetBIOS name that I'm after. That contains the full AD domain name

[Mike Shepard]

I tried this and for mine it shows as <1E> (rather than <1B>)

[JPBlanc]

According to documentation it can be <00>, <1B>, <1C>, <1D>, <1E> so you can change the regular expression to "^ (.) *<1[BCDE]>.*$"

[JPBlanc]

What about Win32_NTDomain WMI object

[Mike Shepard]

That one looks good in my environment. I like it lots better than the convoluted answer I gave. :-)

[Thad]

Win32_NTDomain looks like a winner. Note that returns multiple entries, including one for the local computer and probably other trusted domains (if you have any)

[Thad]

Sorry, that's not the results I was after. Those both return a full DNS-style domain name. I was after the short/NetBIOS-style domain name.

[Thad]

That answer is already mentioned in my question. It doesn't return the domain of the COMPUTER though (which is what I was asking)

[Andreas]

There is USERDOMAIN and USERDNSDOMAIN. The second one did the job for my task.

[Thad]

That looks like a varation on @Sacha's answer

[Jez]

Yeah, it is similar. Mine just has less keystrokes :)

[Thad]

Ha! Well I guess it is true that you only have a limited number of those to use up keysleft.com :-)

[Jez]

Good grief, I hope I'm still not working at the age of 90! lol

[lesca]

Thanks! This is the answer I am looking for.

[Thad]

That looks like it's returning the user's domain, not the machine's domain

[Thad]

FYI I tried this on Windows PowerShell on Windows 10 20H2 and the first line fails with Exception calling "GetCurrentDomain" with "0" argument(s): "Current security context is not associated with an Active Directory domain or forest."

[Minkus]

@DavidGardiner Have checked today & the WinNTSystemInfo's DomainName property does return the user's domain, not the machine's domain. But the ADSystemInfo DomainShortName property is as you wanted it to be. I've updated the answer to reflect this.