Delete an organizational unit

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To delete an organizational unit

Open Active Directory Users and Computers.
In the console tree, right-click the organizational unit in which you want to delete.

Where?
- Active Directory Users and Computers/domain node/organizational unit
Click Delete.

Notes

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Domain Admins group or the Enterprise Admins group in Active Directory, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure. For more information, see Default local groups, Default groups, and Using Run as.
To open Active Directory Users and Computers, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Active Directory Users and Computers.
If the selected organizational unit contains other objects, Active Directory Users and Computers prompts you to either continue or cancel the deletion. If you continue the deletion, all objects within the organizational unit will also be deleted.

Value	Description
OrganizationalUnitDN	Specifies the distinguished name of the organizational unit to be deleted.

Notes

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Domain Admins group or the Enterprise Admins group in Active Directory, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure. For more information, see Default local groups, Default groups, and Using Run as.
To open a command prompt, click Start, point to All programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command prompt.
Attempting to delete an organizational unit containing other objects will result in an error, unless the -subtree option is used. With the -subtree option, dsrm deletes both the selected organizational unit and any objects it contains.
To view the complete syntax for this command, at a command prompt, type:

dsrm /?

or see Related Topics.

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