How to enable AD Recycle Bin and restore deleted objects on Windows Server 2016
How to enable AD Recycle Bin and restore deleted objects on Windows Server 2016
Before we dive into how to enable Active Directory Recycle Bin in Windows Server 2016, we will first explain what it is and when Microsoft introduced this feature.
Active Directory Recycle Bin simply allows you to restore deleted objects from Active Directory. It can be a user account, computer account or a whole Organizational Unit (OU). Who did not accidentally delete an AD object in his career?
Without this feature enabled, you had only a few choices. Either you could restore if you used a backup solution allowing you to restore individual AD objects (many virtualization backup vendors do that nowadays). Or you have had less chance and your AD server wasn’t configured to be backed up and you have to recreate the user and reinstall his profile on his computer.
Active Directory Recycle Bin in Windows Server 2016 (like in 2012R2) makes it very easy, but this feature is not enabled by default. You need to enable it manually. If you don’t, you can’t rely on it for accidental deletions of an object within your Active Directory (AD).