What does Windows error code 8242 (ERROR_DS_INVALID_DN_SYNTAX) mean?

Status / error code:		Category:

Constant name:
Source:		Operating System:
Description: The client supplied a distinguished name that does not conform to LDAP DN syntax.

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ERROR_DS_ALIAS_PROBLEM	ERROR_DS_IS_LEAF

ERROR_DS_INVALID_DN_SYNTAX

ERROR_DS_INVALID_DN_SYNTAX (0x00002032) is an Active Directory Domain Services LDAP result. The client supplied a distinguished name that does not conform to LDAP DN syntax.

What to check

Verify the RDN sequence, commas, equal signs, escaped characters, and the base naming context.
Do not construct a DN by concatenating display names without proper escaping.
Retrieve the object DN from the directory and reuse that value rather than manually retyping it.

Useful command

Get-ADObject -LDAPFilter "(sAMAccountName=<name>)" -Properties DistinguishedName

Microsoft: AD DS LDAP operations · Microsoft: Get-ADObject · Microsoft: LDAP ETW tracing

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