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If I rename a security group via the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC does that rename properly propagate across all instances where the group was used?

Meaning that if I have, for example, a shared drive set up with that specific group having access, does the group name change automatically change the name of the group that has been granted access to that shared drive?

Obviously it's less of an issue if the group name is only used once somewhere, but if the group is used a few dozen times it would be far to labor intensive to find and rename all instances in which the group was used manually.

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Yes. The name is an attribute on the group - anything sensibly that uses them does not use the name but the underlying SID that does not change - a unique key for an object in AD.

Naturally some third party software is written by people too lazy to ask for the SID and codes names.

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    so I went ahead and changed the security group name, but the changed name didn't propagate to a file server that uses the group. The permissions work, but the group name on the file server still shows the old group name. Is there any way to push the name change across machines on the AD?
    – Reality Extractor
    Apr 27, 2013 at 19:55
  • Some Windows software ported from Linux can't handle case changes in file names, either. What I have to do in those cases is change the name with more that just the cases (e.g. rename "administrators" to "administratorsTemp"), then rename to the desired final name and casing (e.g. "administratorsTemp" to "Administrators"). I'd imagine this can work with AD, too, if you can live with the fact that for a short period of time the name is something completely different.
    – Christoph
    Dec 5, 2022 at 20:40
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https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2928800

Symptoms

Assume that you rename a security group or a distribution group, and then grant permissions for the group to a folder by editing the Security tab of the folder properties. You log on a computer that is running Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1), or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. In this situation, when you check the system access control list (SACL) in the Security tab of the folder properties, the group is displayed as Group Name (Domain Name\name), which is invalid. We expect that the group is Group Name (Domain Name\sAMAccountName).

Notes - Name is a placeholder for the name attribute in the group properties. - sAMAccountName is a placeholder for the sAMAccountName attribute in the group properties.

Cause This issue occurs because incorrect name attribute is used instead of the sAMAccountName attribute in the SACL group display function.

Resolution To resolve this issue in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, install update 2919355.

To resolve this issue in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, install the hotfix that is described in this article.

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  • I’m wondering if installing the update advised above solve the issue
    – Jay
    Mar 3, 2021 at 20:33

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