Full Name of Windows User Name (In Domain) Using Python

Question

I want to retrieve the full name of a Windows computer user in Python.

I have found the equivalent batch command:

net user "%USERNAME%" /domain | FIND /I "Full Name"

that returns the full name (e.g. Full Name John Doe).

I have done the following way by using subprocess but I am wondering if there is a more native way to do it with some Python modules.

import getpass
import subprocess
import re

username = getpass.getuser()
p = subprocess.Popen(
    'net user %s /domain' % username,
    stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE
)
info, err = p.stdout.read(), p.stderr.read()
full_name = re.findall(r'Full Name\s+(.*\S)', info)

print(full_name)

Thanks

Answer 1

The more direct way to do this is to query Active Directory. You'd perform a lookup on the user, followed by getting the displayName attribute. (This maps to the Full Name displayed in Windows.)

You have two options here:

Must Read

Using a Python AD library, e.g. pyad

This is very Windows-specific, and requires the pywin32 library. It relies on ADSI APIs, so it will only works on Windows.

from pyad import aduser
user = aduser.ADUser.from_cn(username)
print(user.get_attribute("displayName"))

How you get the username is up to you. You can use getpass.getuser(), os.environ["USERNAME"] (Windows-only), etc.

Full Name of Windows User Name (In Domain) Using Python

2 Answers

Must Read

Using a Python AD library, e.g. pyad

David Miller