Q. Is there a way to retrieve and revive deleted AD objects from the AD Recycle Bin from the Windows GUI?

Q. We've enabled the Active Directory (AD) Recycle Bin feature in our Windows Server 2008 R2 AD. Is there a way to retrieve and revive deleted AD objects from the AD Recycle Bin from the Windows GUI? I am looking for something similar to what you can do for deleted file system objects with the Windows desktop Recycle Bin.

 A. Unlike its Windows desktop peer, the AD recycle bin isn't represented in the AD Users and Computers (ADUC) MMC snap-in in the form of an icon or container that you can use to easily access deleted objects. Deleted objects are inaccessible from the classic AD management tools, and Microsoft's preferred way of dealing with the AD recycle bin is to use Windows PowerShellcmdlets.

There are some third-party tools that provide a GUI to interact with AD Recycle Bin and easily revive deleted AD objects. Examples are Overallsolutions' ADrecyclebin and PowerGUI's AD Recycle Bin PowerPack. Even though they're more complex to use, you can also use directory editors like the Windows LDP utility or Joeware's AdMod to revive deleted AD objects.