Active Directory Import not working correctly

Active Directory Import (ADI) doesn't use FIM service. Moreover when you switch to ADI, the FIM service will be shut down.

There is a step-by-step MS Technet article, that explains, how to configure User Profile Synchronization Service to use ADI. My experience is, that a lot of problems are caused by the fact, that the service account is not properly configured on the AD end.

Here is the short guide written 1 year ago.

1. Change synchronization settings to SharePoint Active Directory Import

2. Check “Profile Synchronization status” to be “Idle”

3. If “Profile Synchronization status” is “Not provisioned”, go to “Services on server” and start “User Profile Synchronization Service” service

Enter user name and password, check for timer job “ProfileSynchronizationSetupJob” execution in “Monitoring” – “Timer job status”

4. Go to “Synchronization Connections”, create new connection

Enter in “Fully Qualified Domain Name (e.g. contoso.com)” full domain name, e.g. (1 domain name for each connection):

XXXX.XXXX.com

Choose “Authentication Provider Type”

Enter AD sync account loginpassword

Set check-box “Filter out disabled users”

Click “Populate Containers”

Select required containers (for example):

CN=Users,DC=XXXXX,DC=XXXXX,DC=com

OU=Users,OU=XXXXX,OU=BO Users,DC=XXXXX,DC=XXXXX,DC=com

5. After all domains are added, check for “Profile Synchronization status” to be “Synchronizing” and “User Profile Service Application - User Profile ActiveDirectory Import Job” to be running

6. Constantly monitor the import status by checking /_layouts/15/ManageUserProfileServiceApplication.aspx?%ApplicationID% page in CA

7. In case of errors, check ULS logs