Bulk Student Email Assignment Script

Date: 2026-05-15 Project: Set-StudentEmail Status: resolved Tags: powershell, active-directory, email, students, bulk-update

Context

Student accounts in AD needed their mail attribute populated consistently so downstream systems had a reliable address per student. Jess wanted a script that walks the student OU and assigns every account an address derived from its AD username, with a safe preview mode.

Key Decisions

[SamAccountName]@<domain> format — the first version built addresses from firstname + surname, but this was switched the same day to the username. Username-based addresses are guaranteed unique and don't break on duplicate names, hyphenated/multi-part surnames, or name changes.
Lowercase and trimmed — avoids case-mismatch and stray whitespace from imported usernames.
Don't overwrite by default — existing addresses are left alone unless -Force is passed, so manually-corrected addresses aren't clobbered.
-WhatIf as the recommended first run — preview before touching AD.
OU and domain as parameters with defaults — defaults suit the school, but the script can be pointed elsewhere.

Technical Details

Script: Set-StudentEmail.ps1
Parameters: -OU (DN of student OU; default <redacted>), -Domain (default <redacted>), -Force, -WhatIf.
Requires the ActiveDirectory module and rights to modify user attributes in the target OU; run from a domain-joined machine or via Enter-PSSession to a DC.

Code Changes

Set-StudentEmail.ps1 — new; OU scan, address build, skip/overwrite logic, WhatIf support. Later changed from name-based to username-based addresses.
README.md — full usage docs and examples; updated for [username]@domain format.

Open Questions / Next Steps

Not scheduled — currently run manually. Could be folded into the enrolment/AD sync workflow so new students get addresses automatically.
No log file output; consider writing a change log like Staff-AD-email-disabler does if it becomes a scheduled task.

Artifacts

3d231b7 — Change email format to [username]@domain
420a964 — Add Set-StudentEmail script
Repo: https://gitea.hideawaygaming.com.au/jessikitty/Set-StudentEmail

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