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In this post we will look at Windows specific things as Active Directory (AD) and Domain Controller (DC). These are techniques to group windows machines together, so you can manage them centrally. For instance, you don’t have to run around in the office with a disk to install software, one by one on the computers.

There are lot of advantages with AD and DC, we will only look briefly in how to set them up in a lab environment in Hyper-V on virtual machines (VMs).

TL;DR

1. Create a Windows 2016 Server and add the role/feature Active Directory Domain Service.
2. Promote this server to a Domain Controller.
3. Add a User in the Active Directory Users and Computers.
4. Join PCs on your network to the Domain.

Index

• Prerequisites
• Setup in Hyper-V
• Change Name of Server
• Allow NetBIOS over IPv4
• Add Active Directory (AD) Server Role
• Promote the Server to a Domain Controller
• Active Directory Users and Computers
• Add a Computer to the Domain
• Summary
• Troubleshooting
• References

Prerequisites

This post builds upon previous posts. If things in this post are hard to understand or not clear enough I suggest you read these post:

• About DNS: https://www.raspberryfield.life/2019/03/16/dns-server-in-local-network-hyper-v/ [2019-03-23]
• About DNS and NetBIOS names: https://www.raspberryfield.life/2019/03/22/dns-names-vs-netbios-names/ [2019-03-23]

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Setup in Hyper-V

This is my setup in Hyper-V:

About the servers:

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Change Name of Server

When you create a server in Hyper-V and install a trail Windows Server OS you will get a computer name something like this: WIN-KA3RFL7J3LG.

To change the computer name: Start-> Settings-> About-> Rename PC:

Changes will prompt you to restart the computer.

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Allow NetBIOS over IPv4

In this lab we are using static IP addresses. Some Windows technologies communicates with something called NetBIOS. This must be activated manually to work: Network and Sharing Center-> Ethernet (myprivateswitch)-> Properties-> Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)-> Advanced-> WINS-> Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP-> OK:

Do this for all the computers on the network.

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Add Active Directory (AD) Server Role

We need to activate the AD Server Role in Add Roles and Features: Server Manager-> Manage-> Add Roles and Features-> Server Role-> Active Directory Domain Service-> Add Features-> Install:

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Promote the Server to a Domain Controller

After the installation of the AD Service you can promote the Server to a Domain Controller. A Domain Controller is the Server where the AD is installed.

Server Manager-> AD DS-> Configuration required for Active Directory Domain Service at…-> More…-> Promote this server to a domain controller:

Now a wizard will open. In Deployment configuration, chose Add a new forest (Forest is the name of the root directory in AD) then type your domain name:

Now, chose a password:

Don’t worry about this warning (see, references). In our small lab environment, we don’t need this delegation.

Wait for the wizard to find the NetBIOS domain name:

Just leave the default values:

Leave the defaults here as well:

Check that prerequisites check passes:

Now the installation will start:

When the installation is complete, the computer will reboot, and it will take some time to start up again. Have patience:

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Active Directory Users and Computers

Now you can administrate users and computers in your domain from the AD. Open Active Directory Users and Computers from Server Manager-> Tools:

Here you can see which computer the Domain Controller is.

Get familiarized with the Active Directory by adding a user:

Here I give my user a lot of access by assigning it to member of security groups:

Now you have a user in the AD /Domain with high privileges.

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Add a Computer to the Domain

Before you join a computer to the domain, here is a checklist:

• Make sure you allowed NetBIOS over TCP/IP if you are using static IP addresses.
• Make sure the computer has the name you want (see image below).
• Make sure to uncheck IPv6 because we are using IPv4 in this tutorial.

How to change a computer name (restart required):

Start-> Settings-> System-> About-> Rename PC (restart required):

When you have the computer name you want, you can choose to join a domain from the same menu as above:

Start-> Settings-> System-> About-> Join a domain:

Use an account that you have registered in the AD with domain privileges, or use the Administrator account. Sometimes you might need to type like this domain name\account name e.g. LAB\frederick.fields.

Next step about information of the computer’s user, I choose Administrator account.

Now you need to restart the computer.

When you have restarted the computer. Go into Active Directory Users and Computers on your domain controller and in the computer folder you can see that the computer has been added:

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Summary

In this post we briefly look at how to set up a domain for windows servers. We added an Active Directory and promoted the server to a domain controller and made other PCs join that domain.

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Troubleshooting

First time I did this I didn’t unchecked IPv6 in Ethernet Properties. After I installed The AD, promoted the server to a Domain Controller and added a computer to the domain I wanted to check connectivity and DNS. I got this answer (::1:) :

Turn of IPv6 and it should be fine.

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References

PeteNetLive, Windows – A Delegation For This DNS Server Cannot Be Created https://www.petenetlive.com/KB/Article/0001287 [2019-03-19]

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