This exercise is taken from our CompTIA A+ Essentials and Practical Application course and continues our series of free demos from our paid courses. If you like this demo and want to get more involved with Windows desktop operating systems then our CompTIA or Microsoft Desktop courses are just for you.
Our Desktop Courses have the following benefits:
- No time restrictions
- Additional lab layouts
- Dozens more tasks
- Extremely cost effective
This is a modified sample from our CompTIA A+ Essentials and Practical Application course, it has been modified to enable it to flow correctly as a standalone module.
In this exercise you will learn how to join a Windows 7 Desktop PC to a Windows Domain. Joining a domain is a very common administrative task that is carried out in many organisations when deploying new Windows based PCs so being familiar with its process is important for any desktop engineer.
Please refer to the Microsoft website for more information on how to join a domain at Microsoft which will help you gain a further understanding of this technology.
In this exercise you will be required to Power On and connect to the following servers from your Practice-Lab application:
Domain controller
Windows 7 computer
If this is the first time you are accessing a Practice-Lab why not take a few minutes to watch our video on getting started, or if you are still having difficulty connecting to your Practice-Lab device please refer to our help pages.
Workgroups and Domains
In Microsoft networking a workgroup is a collection of computers on a LAN that share common resources and responsibilities. Workgroups allow sharing of files, printers and other similar resources between the members of the workgroup. Workgroups however are useful only in small networks such as small offices or homes as they do not scale very well and become an administrative burden.
A Domain on the other hand has dedicated server(s) that log, track and manage security policies (amongst many other things) for all users and shares with the help of technologies like Microsofts Active Directory.
If you have a user account on the domain, you can log on to any computer on the domain without requiring a local use account on that computer (in contrast to a Workgroup which does not enable this) which becomes much more scalable in large networks.
Before carrying out these steps, ensure you have powered on both the Domain Controller and the Windows 7 PC in the lab.
Follow these steps to join the PRACTICELABS domain on the Windows 7 computer:
Step 1
Once the Windows 7 PC has powered on, click the connect button to login as the local administrator account.
When the desktop appears, right-click Computer on the desktop and then click Properties as shown in the image below.
Step 2
Next under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings , click the Change settings link (its about two thirds down the page on the right hand side).
Step 3
You will see a new window appear, which is the System Properties application. In the System Properties dialog box, click the Computer Name tab and then click Change .
Step 4
In the Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box, under Member of , click Workgroup and then you can perform any of the following tasks:
- Join an existing workgroup or domain.
- Create a new workgroup
We are going to join the PRACTICELABS domain.
Before joining the domain, ensure that the Domain Controller is powered on and the Connect button is showing.
Connect to the Domain controller by clicking the Connect button (it will log in using the Administrator account in the domain).
Once it has logged in, click Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users and Computers
Next on the left hand side of Active Directory user and computers, click the Computers container.
You will notice that there are no entities in this container yet.
Keep this window open, but go back to the Windows 7 machine (You can use alt+tab to switch between your Practice-Labs devices, assuming they have launched in new browser windows).
On the Windows 7 machine we are going to join the PRACTICELABS domain, therefore in the Domain box in the dialog that is still open, type in PRACTICELABS and press OK .
You will be prompted to enter in a username and password to join the domain. For this example we are going to user the Administrator account, in practice you would use another account that had the correct permissions to be able to perform this function. Its very unlikely you would have the domain Administrator account!
Enter in the username and password as follows:
- Username: Administrator
- Password: Passw0rd
Next click OK .
It will take a few seconds, but you will receive a message welcoming you to the domain.
If you press OK and then press OK again in the Domain Changes window.
You will be asked to reboot the Windows 7 PC, you can either do this from the lab panel in the web page (click the Reboot icon) which will inform you when the machine is back up and running, or you can choose to restart the PC using the menu option that has been presented to you on the desktop.
If you choose the desktop approach, why not get a continuous ping going from the Domain controller so that you can tell when the Windows 7 (192.168.0.2) PC is back up and running:
Once your ping returns, it will take a few seconds (maybe a minute) for the terminal services software to start so give it a minute and then try to reconnect to the Windows 7 PC by clicking the Connect button.
While the PC is rebooting, check the Computers container on the domain controller Active Directory Users and Computers (click the refresh button, or press F5 ):
You will notice a new item in the container which is the hostname of the Windows 7 PC. You have successfully joined the domain!
On next logon to the Windows PC (if you leave Auto-Login checked) you will notice that the desktop looks slightly different. This is because you have now logged in as Administrator in the Domain and you have a new profile.
Summary
In this exercise you learned how to join a Windows 7 desktop to a Windows Domain. You also noticed what changes this made in the Computers container on the Domain Controller and that when you logged in you created a new user profile for the Administrator account.
Also try
- Create a new Active Directory user and login using that account (uncheck the Auto-Login setting on the web page).
- Join the Windows XP machine to the domain, is the process much different?
- Why not try deleting the computer account from the domain, what happens when you try and login to the Windows 7 PC (note, to recover the PC you can simply click the Reset button on the web page)
And finally
The above exercise gives you an insight to what you can achieve in a Practice-Lab. Being able to learn, discover and explore new topics and tools without the fear of compromising production environments.
If you are interested in more topics like the above then have a look at our CompTIA Application Essentials course or our Windows Desktop courses:
70-680 - Configuring Windows 7 course
70-685 - Windows 7 Enterprise Desktop Support Technician course
70-686 - Windows 7 Enterprise Desktop Administrator course
70-270 - Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional course
70-271 - Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Windows XP course
70-272 - Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Desktop Applications in Windows XP course
Alternatively look at purchasing access to our Practice-Lab library that covers all of our supported technologies.
We recommend repeating these exercises as it will not only help build your confidence in the subject matter but will open your mind to the other capabilities. Do not feel afraid to experiment in our labs!
If you wish to comment on this Practice-Lab please send an email to Support@Practice-IT.co.uk with your feedback.