LDP.exe is a part of the Support Tools package for Windows 2000. The utility is designed to allow the user to perform Lightweight Directory Acces Protocol, or LDAP searches. These searches are conducted against the Active Directory to find specific information from the search criteria. LDAP searches are meant to allow administrators to query data that might otherwise not easily be visible through
. the standard Administrive tool set also included in Windows 2000. One limitation that will still remain with LDP queries is that all data is still subject to security permissions and may not show if permission is not granted for that data. Because LDP is a GUI-based search system the text displayed in the details window can be copied to the Clipboard and pasted elsewhere. With the further advancement of Windows the LDP.exe utility has remained to be available for future versions of the operating system. Download of LDP.exe can be done through various sources from Microsoft depending on the operating system being used. It is included in the Windows XP SP 2 Support Tools download. It is also included in the Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 Support Tools download. For Windows Server 2008 a download can be found from Microsoft, but the program should already be installed within this system and not require a download. As support for Windows 2000 is discontinued by Microsoft, a download of the original version is no longer available directly but can still be found through a number of independent online sources. Because Microsoft gives the utility out for free this piece of software is not subject to software piracy protection in the same way that many Microsoft products are. As a result downloading from these independent online sources is fully legal and generally considered safe since ideally it should be the exact same program Microsoft hands out. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/224543 or https://sharepoint.washington.edu/windows/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=105
