PowerShell Script: Export User Group Memberships to CSV

Posted on April 19, 2026 Updated on April 16, 2026

Auditing which users belong to which groups is one of the most frequent requests for a System Administrator. Whether it’s for a security audit, a helpdesk ticket, or a “copy permissions” request, digging through the Member Of tab in Active Directory is slow and prone to error.

This PowerShell script simplifies the process by generating a clean, object-based list of memberships that you can easily export to CSV, HTML, or plain text.

The PowerShell Script

Save the following code as Get-UserGroupMembership.ps1. It is designed to handle single users, lists from text files, or entire Organizational Units (OUs) via the pipeline.

Param (
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,ValueFromPipeLine=$true)]
    [Alias("ID","Users","Name")]
    [string[]]$User
)
Begin {
    Try { Import-Module ActiveDirectory -ErrorAction Stop }
    Catch { Write-Host "Unable to load Active Directory module. Is RSAT installed?"; Break }
}
Process {
    ForEach ($U in $User) {
        Try {
            $UN = Get-ADUser $U -Properties MemberOf
            $Groups = ForEach ($Group in ($UN.MemberOf)) {
                (Get-ADGroup $Group).Name
            }
            
            # Sort groups alphabetically for a cleaner report
            $Groups = $Groups | Sort
            
            ForEach ($Group in $Groups) {
                New-Object PSObject -Property @[ordered]@{
                    User  = $UN.Name
                    Group = $Group
                }
            }
        }
        Catch {
            Write-Warning "Could not find user: $U"
        }
    }
}

How to Use the Script

1. Single User Lookup

To quickly see the groups for one specific user:

PowerShell

.\Get-UserGroupMembership.ps1 -User "John.Doe"

2. Bulk Export from a Text File

If you have a list of usernames in users.txt, use this command to generate a full CSV report:

PowerShell

Get-Content C:\Temp\users.txt | .\Get-UserGroupMembership.ps1 | Export-CSV C:\Temp\UserMemberships.csv -NoTypeInformation

3. Audit an Entire OU

To see the memberships for every user within a specific department or location:

PowerShell

Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase "OU=Users,DC=yourdomain,DC=local" | .\Get-UserGroupMembership.ps1 | Export-CSV C:\audit_output.csv -NoTypeInformation

Why This Method Beats the GUI

• Alphabetical Sorting: Groups are presented A-Z, making it much easier to read than the random order in ADUC.
• Pipeline Support: Because it outputs a PSObject, you can pipe it directly into ConvertTo-HTML for a report or Out-GridView for an interactive window.
• Automation Ready: You can schedule this script to run weekly to maintain a “snapshot” of your environment’s security posture.

#PowerShell #ActiveDirectory #SysAdmin #WindowsServer #ITAdmin #CyberSecurity #Automation #LazyAdmin #TechTips #ITAudit