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Published
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April 17, 2009 |
Last Updated |
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April 17, 2009 |
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Introduction |
In this article I will be showing you how to
successfully join
Windows 7 to a domain, and then how to log on to the
machine with your domain credentials.
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Note : This article was
written when Windows 7 was still in BETA 1, changes
might occur later to the product once it is RTM.
You will have first to configure your networking
settings, so that your machine would be able to
properly communicate with your Domain Controller.
I have a Domain Controller that is configure to be a
DNS Server as well, and has its IP address configured as :
192.168.1.1
My Windows 7 machine, is configured with the below
settings:

To make sure that your PC can reach your domain
controller properly, try to ping your DC, this will
ensure that your PC is able to communicate with the
DC, and hence can properly join it.

To join Windows 7 to a Domain, follow these steps:
- Click on Start > then right
click on Computer and click on
Properties

- The basic system information page will open,
under Computer name, domain, and
workgroup settings, click on
Change Settings

- On the System Properties
page, click on Change...

- Under Member of, select the
radio button beside Domain: ,
type the name of the domain you want your
Windows 7 to join and then click OK

- A pop up box requesting to enter credentials
of an account with rights to join the domain (with
rights to
create computer accounts), example of such user
is one that is member of the Domain Admins
Active Directory group. Once the username and
password are typed, click on OK

A confirmation pop up box will welcome you to
the domain. Clicking on OK,
will result in having another message informing
that a reboot for the machine is required to
apply the changes. Click on OK


Close System properties page, and
on the You must restart your computer pop up
message box, click on Restart Now

- Once your machine is rebooted, press CTRL +
ALT + Del to log on

- As you can see, the user that last logged on
to the system was a local account user ( machine
name\username ), and we need to log on to the
machine with a domain user account, to do this,
click on Switch User

- Click on Other User

- Type your domain user credentials and click
on Enter key to log on. Note that, as seen in the
below image, my domain name is stated under the
username and password textboxes. If it happens
that you have your local machine name is shown
and not your domain name, then type the user
name in this format : domain
name\username

If you want, after you log on to the machine,
open the basic system properties page ( Right
Click Computer > Properties ), and check your
computer full name, and the name of the domain
your machine is joined to.

Summary
In this article, I have shown you how to join
Windows 7 to a domain and how to successfully log on to
the machine with a domain credentials.
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