Skip to main content

How to join a client to a domain via command line

Windows 7/2008 R2 have a feature that allows you to join a client to the domain without actually having access to the client.  It is called Offline Domain Join.  This process involves creating a file on the domain controller and then using that file on the client to join it to the domain.  Let’s take a look at how to make that happen.

 

We are going to perform this on the server.  The idea is to join a client, NYC-CL1 to the domain in an Organizational Unit called Clients  The default container for joining clients to the domain is Computers, but this exercise will allow you to join the client to the OU that you want the computer object to be stored in.

On the Domain Controller, click Start.

 

Type CMD.

 

Right click the CMD.exe that appears in the search list and then click Run as Administrator.

 

Type djoin /provision /domain contoso.com /machine nyc-cl1 /savefile nyc-cl1_File /MachineOU “OU=Clients,DC=contoso,dc=com”

 

Once this is done, we can see the computer object has been created in the Clients OU.

image

 

 

You now need to copy that file to the machine to be joined.

 

On the client computer, open an elevated command prompt as you did earlier on the server.

 

Make sure the nyc-cl1_File is accessable in the file structure where you are typing this command line.

 

Type djoin /requestODJ /loadfile NYC-CL1_File /windowspath %SystemRoot% /localos

 

You should see a message similar to the one below.

image

Reboot the client.

 

Below is Microsoft's information on some of the switches used in this demo.

 

/provision Creates a computer account in AD DS.
/domain Specifies the name of the domain to join.
/machine Specifies the name of the computer that you want to join to the domain
/savefile Saves provisioning data to a file.
/machineou Specifies the name of the organizational unit (OU) in which you want the computer account to be created. By default, the computer account is created in the Computers container.
/requestodj Requests an offline domain join at the next start.
/Loadfile Specifies the output from a previous provisioning command.
/windowspath Specifies the path to the Windows directory of the offline image. If you are using the/localos parameter, specify %systemroot% or %windir% as the value of the/windowspath parameter.
/localos Targets the local operating system installation, instead of an offline image, with the domain join information. If you use this parameter, the value that you specify for/windowspath should be %systemroot% or %windir%. Run this parameter only on a destination computer that you want to join to the domain. This parameter is blocked from being run on a domain controller. Because this parameter injects the blob data into the locally running operating system image, you must restart the computer to complete the domain join operation, as you must also do for an online domain join.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to list all the AD LDS instances on a server

AD LDS allows you to provide directory services to applications that are free of the confines of Active Directory.  To list all the AD LDS instances on a server, follow this procedure: Log into the server in question Open a command prompt. Type dsdbutil and press Enter Type List Instances and press Enter . You will receive a list of the instance name, both the LDAP and SSL port numbers, the location of the database, and its status.

How to run GPResult on a remote client with PowerShell

In the past, to run the GPResult command, you would need to either physically visit this client, have the user do it, or use and RDP connection.  In all cases, this will disrupt the user.  First, you need PowerShell remoting enabled on the target machine.  You can do this via Group Policy . Open PowerShell and type this command. Invoke-Command –ScriptBlock {GPResult /r} –ComputerName <ComputerName> Replace <ComputerName> with the name of the target.  Remember, the target needs to be online and accessible to you.

Error icon when creating a GPO Preference drive map

You may not have an error at all.  Take a look at the drive mapping below. The red triangle is what threw us off.  It is not an error.  It is simply a color representation of the Replace option of the Action field in the properties of the drive mappings. Create action This give you a green triangle. The Create action creates a new mapped drive for users. Replace Action The Replace action gives you a red triangle.  This action will delete and recreate mapped drives for users. The net result of the Replace action is to overwrite all existing settings associated with the mapped drive. If the drive mapping does not exist, then the Replace action creates a new drive mapping. Update Action The Update action will have a yellow triangle. Update will modify settings of an existing mapped drive for users. This action differs from Replace in that it only updates settings defined within the preference item. All other settings remain as configured on the ma...