How to Join Windows Server Core to Active Directory Domain

Post category:Active Directory / Microsoft / Windows Server Core
Post published:July 26, 2022
Post last modified:July 26, 2024

Joining a Windows Server Core installation to a domain can be done using command-line tools since Server Core does not have the traditional graphical user interface. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it:

In this article, we are going to understand how we can join a Windows Server Core to Active Directory.

Prerequisite

Before making this change make sure that you have renamed your ESXi Host to the correct Name. Follow the below article if you need help.

Change Hostname of a Windows Server Core

Make sure you have configured the Networking correctly with the correct DNS Server address.

Procedure

- Open the Console for the Server.
- Type sconfig to open the configuration editor.

Press 1 to access Domain/Workgroup setting.
Type “D” for Domain
Enter the Domain Address
Enter the Username
You will get a prompt to restart the server and you can press Yes or ctrl+y.

Post this you can now see the Host is added to the Active Directory.

Ashutosh Dixit

I am currently working as a Senior Technical Support Engineer with VMware Premier Services for Telco. Before this, I worked as a Technical Lead with Microsoft Enterprise Platform Support for Production and Premier Support. I am an expert in High-Availability, Deployments, and VMware Core technology along with Tanzu and Horizon.