This document describes the process of joining computers (workstations and servers) to the campus Windows 2000 domain. To join a computer, you first must have a delegated Organizational Unit (OU) in the campus domain.

All computer objects must be pre-created in the campus domain for security reasons. The first computer you join to the domain will be joined with the assistance of ITS. Once that computer has been joined, you may use it to create computer objects for the remainder of your computers.

Creating the computer object

1. Log into a computer that is a member of the domain as you administrative user account.
2. Launch the Active Directory Users and Computers console (this console is available if you install the administration pack from a Windows 2000 distribution CD - x:\i386\adminpak.msi) and browse to your department's OU.
3. Right-click on the right side of the window and select "New" and then "Computer" from the menu. A window should appear like this:

   

4. Enter the name of the computer you wish to join to the domain ("newcomputer" in the example).
5. You must configure the object to allow your user account to join the computer to the domain. To do this, click the "Change" button in the window. A window should appear like this:

   

6. After a short while, another window will appear notifying you that there are too many objects to display in the window like this:

   

7. Type in the name of the group or user you would like to have the ability to join this computer to the domain (probably your departmental OU administrators group) and hit enter.
8. If there are multiple users/groups with that name, you will be given a window like this one so select the correct choice:

   

9. Once you have selected the user/group to have the ability to join this object, click "Next" and the following window should appear:

   

10. Some computers ship with a GUID code, if the computer you wish to join did then you may enter it here. Check with your vendor if you are unsure about your computer's GUID. This is an optional step. Once you enter a GUID, or skip the step, click "Next" and the following window should appear:

    

11. Click "Finish" to complete the creation of the computer object.

Joining the computer to the domain

1. Log into the computer you wish to join to the domain as a user with local administrator rights. Right-click on the "My Computer" icon and select "Properties". Then select the "Network Identification" tab. The window should look something like this:

   

2. First make sure the computer name matches the name of the corresponding computer object you have created in the domain.
3. Click the "Properties" button and a window like this should appear:

   

4. Check the "Domain" radio button and enter "ad.colorado.edu" as the domain name (as shown in the picture). If this computer will be using a static IP address name-served as name.colorado.edu and will not be moving to name.ad.colorado.edu, click the "More" button and the following window will appear - otherwise skip to step 6:

   

5. Uncheck "Change primary DNS suffixá" and enter "colorado.edu" in the field as shown in the picture and click "OK". Note: Maintaining a colorado.edu name-service requires additional configuration for all services to function properly. Please contact ITS.
6. Click "OK" and you will be prompted for a username and password. Enter the username and password a user allowed to join the computer to the domain (from the first part of these instructions) like your departmental administrative account and click "OK". It may take a few moments before you receive a response. Eventually you should receive a window welcoming you to the domain like this one:

   

7. Click "OK" to that window and then "OK" to the "Identification Changes" window. You will be prompted to reboot your computer.
8. Now that your computer is joined to the campus domain, you may wish to configure the computer for IdentiKey logon. You should also disable dynamic DNS registration on each of your computers.

Getting Help

help@colorado.edu