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Step by Step guide to setup Active Directory

on Windows Server 2008
This tutorial will explain how to install AD on server 2008. This will valid for windows 2008
R2 as well.
Requirement:
Minimum: Single processor with 1.4 GHz (x64 processor) or 1.3GHz (Dual Core)
Minimum: 512 MB RAM
Minimum: 32 GB or greater

The first step is to assign a ip to the server that you going to deploy the AD. Its
nessary to install it as DNS server too. So its better to have fixed ip it doesn't mean
you cannot install AD without fixed ip address but it will solve lot of issues if you
used fixed ip.

In here the server ip is 10.0.0.14. Since we going to make it as DNS server too you should
use the same ip as the preferred DNS server.

Next step is to install the Active directory roles. Unlikely the older version of
windows servers Microsoft highly recommend to use server manager option to install
roles before you run dcpromo.

Click on start menu and select the Server Manager

Select the roles from the right hand panel and click on add roles option.

From the roles list select the "Active Directory Domain Services" role and Click
"Next"

Review the confirmation and click on "Next"

Review the installation confirmation and click on "Next"

It will take few minutes to complete and when its done you will get this confirmation.
And then click on "Close"

After that you will need to do a reboot.

After reboot please open up the "server Manager" again. And then click on "Roles"
there you will see the "Active Directory Domain Services" is successfully installed in
there. click on it then you will get a window like below.

In their please pay attention to the message

So please click on that link and it will start the DCPROMO wizard.

So next step to go through the DC promo wizard.

To start the installation click on "Next"

Click on "Next"

Since we going to install New domain Controller in new forest please select the
option "Create a new domain in new forest" option and click on "Next"

Now we have to provide the name for our domain controller. It must be FQDN. In our
case I used rebeladmin.com as the domain. Please click "Next" after it.

In this window it will ask to select forest function level. If you going to add server
2003 domain controller to your forest later don't select the function level as server
2008. If you going to use full features of 2008 Ad you must select forest function
level as server 2008. In my case I used server 2008. Click on "Next" after the select.

In next window since it's the first DC we should make it as DNS server too. Leave the
default selection and click on "Next"

If the wizard cannot create a delegation for the DNS server, it displays a message to
indicate that you can create the delegation manually. To continue, click "Yes"

In next window it will show up the database location. It its going to be bigger AD its
good if you can keep NTDS database in different partition. Click on "Next" after
changes.

In next window its asking to define a restore mode password. Its more important if
you had to do a restore from backup in a server crash. Click on "Next" after filling it.

Next window is giving you a brief of the installation. Click on "Next"

Then it will start the installation of the AD. It will take some time to complete. After
complete of the installation perform a server reboot.

After the reboot now you can login to the domain. Please use the login as following
example

User name : your domain\administrator

Password : XXXXXXXX

Now its done and you can view the active directory options on administrative tools
menu

Hope this tutorial is clear for you guys. If any question please ask me on rebeladm@live.com
Share and Enjoy:

Posted in Active Directory, MICROSOFT and tagged Active directory, Dedicated, DNS,
forest, Microsoft, role, server 2008, windows on March 7, 2011. 115 Comments
Step by Step Guide to Install Active Directory on Windows Server 2008 Core Windows 7
and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

115 comments
1.

Glenn
July 30, 2013 at 5:04 am
i use this as my guide..thanks
Reply

2.

chandrashekhar
July 30, 2013 at 6:58 am
Very nice and easy to understand
Chandrashekhar
Reply

3.

Syed Naveed Ahmed

August 26, 2013 at 9:31 am
Amazing..easy and clear
Reply

4.

subash
October 26, 2013 at 11:26 am
good one thaks
Reply

5.

Tefu Roland Mbole

November 11, 2013 at 12:09 pm
This article was very very helpful. Its straight to the point and a beginner can setup
AD and DNS in seconds.

Thx
Reply

6.

Lee
January 26, 2014 at 3:39 pm
The information was helpful
Thanks!
Lee
Reply

7.

Vinod Pandey
February 23, 2014 at 5:51 pm
good for basic installation of AD
Reply

8.

Santosh Kumar
March 31, 2014 at 5:48 pm
It is very useful tool for all it professionals
Reply

9.

deepak k dewangan
May 3, 2014 at 7:32 am
Thanks for guaidness this site .
Reply

10.

sulman
May 30, 2014 at 4:32 pm

fantastic ,Thanks!
Reply

11.

mahendran
June 23, 2014 at 7:19 am
thank sir
Reply

12.

Asad
June 24, 2014 at 6:07 am
Thanks for sharing useful information
Reply

13.

Rajesh
June 28, 2014 at 6:25 am
Amazing..easy and clear
Reply

14.

Parmod Rana
July 2, 2014 at 8:33 pm
One word!! Amazing!
Reply

15.

Dishan M. Francis
July 3, 2014 at 11:28 am
Thanks every one!
Reply

16.

Ruwan
July 7, 2014 at 5:10 am

thanks, helped me to setup a AD quickly for a test

Reply

17.

Basit
July 9, 2014 at 4:34 am
Thank you for helping people, Take Care.

Reply

18.

miki
July 10, 2014 at 6:37 am
Thanks for your article.
Reply

19.

naveen
July 10, 2014 at 9:19 am
Thank u very much..this helped me alot..
Reply

20.

cephas
July 11, 2014 at 1:01 pm

nice one .very precise

Reply

21.

ivod
July 11, 2014 at 3:33 pm
thenks this is help me
Reply

22.

kishor
July 14, 2014 at 4:04 am
thanks,,,,
Reply

23.

Adapter Mohan
July 15, 2014 at 1:59 am
Very narrative and self descriptive. Thanks.
However, I have a small doubt. After the set up of AD, how can I connect other PCs
(i.e., nodes) to this server through switch ?
Thanks in advance
Reply

24.

Dishan M. Francis
July 15, 2014 at 9:39 am
mohan, you can refer to http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/connectcomputer-domain#1TC=windows-7 and it explains how to add computer to windows
domain. if any questions please feel free to email me on rebeladm@live.com
Reply

25.

INDRANIL SARKAR

July 21, 2014 at 8:11 am

Thanks a lot for share thisI am highly obligedThis is very helpfull.
Reply

26.

SUJOY
July 24, 2014 at 2:26 pm
It is very useful guaidness for all it professionals.so very very THNK
Reply

27.

Udit
July 29, 2014 at 4:54 am
Thanks Dishan for taking out your precious time and writing these articles, they are of
great help, appreciate your effort.
Reply

28.

Vamsi Harish
July 30, 2014 at 11:45 am
Thanks for the subject
Reply

29.

Arun Karthik
August 4, 2014 at 5:34 am
Useful data of ADS Installation for beginners. gonna follow these steps
Reply

30.

hunde
August 5, 2014 at 7:21 am

excellent ,step
Reply

31.

damira
August 5, 2014 at 3:28 pm
hi
thank you it very useful tuto
thank you then
Reply

32.

Ssekavubu Duncan
August 11, 2014 at 1:01 pm
Lively and understandable!
Reply

33.

kevin
August 20, 2014 at 7:29 am
Hi there,
You use ip address of class A (10.0.0.14)
then why not use subnet mask for class A too (255.0.0.0) instead of (255.255.255.0) ?

Thanks before
Reply

34.

Dishan M. Francis
August 20, 2014 at 8:03 am
Hello Kevin,

First this is a demo. about the subnet mask of cause i can use /8 but there is no reason
to waste that much of IP addresses. There is no rule that you must use /8 if its in class
A. you can decide subnet base on your IP requirement.
Reply

35.

kevin
August 20, 2014 at 8:22 am

Oh I see.. Thanks sir

Reply

36.

mhagama
August 26, 2014 at 5:04 pm
Very useful. I have got my first AD, Thank you
Reply

37.

RAM
September 1, 2014 at 5:29 pm
REALLY VRY NICE SIR..THANK YOU VERY MUCH.TOMORROW I AM
GOING TO ATTEND INTERVIEW THIS WILL VERY USEFUL SIRTHANK U
SIRTHANKS LOT
Reply

38.

Dishan M. Francis
September 2, 2014 at 3:31 am
Thanks Ram, Good luck with your interview!!!
Reply

39.

edmand
September 5, 2014 at 4:06 am
very very easy to installed in your guiedness ,, thanking you
Reply

40.

naganagouda
September 12, 2014 at 3:18 pm
Hi All,
can u show me same thing after install the ad and dns how to install the dhcp
please guys
Reply

41.

Dishan M. Francis
September 12, 2014 at 4:00 pm
Hello naganagouda,
Please refer to following post from the blog which explains in details
http://www.rebeladmin.com/2014/06/step-by-step-guide-to-install-dhcp-role-andconfigure/
Reply

42.

param
September 25, 2014 at 4:25 pm
Thanks
Reply

43.

Fikri El Frana
October 2, 2014 at 7:01 am

i really need this tutorial. thanks.. bro

Reply

44.

Yasir Ali
October 13, 2014 at 9:16 am
Very goodkeep working
Reply

45.

Raja Reddy
October 22, 2014 at 7:37 am
Thanks. for your detailed information about server installion.
Reply

46.

pratibha
October 29, 2014 at 7:26 pm
Thank you so much sir
Reply

47.

Anil
October 30, 2014 at 9:57 am
Very easy steps, followed and configured comfortably. Thanking you so much.
Reply

48.

nikmah
November 5, 2014 at 2:13 pm
thank you so much to share about windows server 2008
Reply

49.

Haji
November 10, 2014 at 9:17 am
not bad
Reply

50.

Mohd Zunaid Khan

November 13, 2014 at 6:34 am
Good Explanation & Thanks
Reply

51.

shehbaz
November 17, 2014 at 5:09 am
thakx
Reply

52.

vinayak
November 20, 2014 at 10:22 am
Thanks, good installation guide.
Reply

53.

Mubashir
November 22, 2014 at 11:15 pm
Thanx sir.
Reply

54.

Sudarmani

December 11, 2014 at 10:02 am

Nice explanation it is very useful.
Thanks a lot
Reply

55.

Nko Leader
December 15, 2014 at 12:26 pm
Nice and Easy. Thanks
Reply

56.

raghunandan
December 16, 2014 at 4:58 pm
Thankyou sir
Reply

57.

Bhukya Ravi
December 21, 2014 at 7:58 am
It's very simple and easy to undarstand Thank you buddy
Reply

58.

tej Bahadur Prajapati

December 28, 2014 at 4:06 pm
Thanks a lot to rebeladmin.com , which is cleared my confusion
Reply

59.

Tajammul khan
January 2, 2015 at 9:31 am

Nice and Easy. Thanks

Reply

60.

Deepu A M
January 3, 2015 at 9:32 am
Hi,
I have installed Virtual PC 2007 & created the 3 Virtual Machines One is Windows
2008 Server, Win XP & Win 7 respectively. In Win 2008 server i have Installed DNS i
have made it as DC & even DHCP is installed on it. But i need to connect between
these 3 virtual machines. Without the network i am not able to proceed. How i can
connect these 3 Virtual machines. Can any body help me out in this it will be vary
helpful to me.
Regards.
Reply

1.

Dishan M. Francis
January 12, 2015 at 9:44 am
Hi,
Can you explain what you mean by without network ? you added virtual
NIC in to these VM correct ?
Reply

61.

goldy
January 7, 2015 at 9:09 am
thanks very easy steps
Reply

62.

goldy
January 7, 2015 at 9:10 am
thanks very helpfull tips

Reply

63.

Qaisar Ali
January 15, 2015 at 4:15 am
thanxvery halpfull & easy to understand & implement
Reply

64.

MaHeNdRa
January 22, 2015 at 7:26 am
Easy to learn
Reply

65.

Saurabh Kanojia
January 30, 2015 at 1:51 pm
Thanks a lot for this guide.. it is really a help..
Reply

66.

Joel
February 12, 2015 at 6:17 pm
One more step to add at the very beginning for people like me who miss the blatantly
obvious: Make sure your computer name is what you want it to be before you
start! I followed this tutorial to set up my DC and DNS, and then followed another
tutorial here
[https://www.blackbaud.com/files/support/infinityinstaller/content/installermaster/tka
ddadanddhcprolestoapplicationserver.htm] to also configure it as a DHCP and
Certificate Authority (CA) server.
Then I realized I had accidentally left the default name of my PC as WINLBQ4ISKVRCT. Imagine having to type that over and over again!
To change the name, I had to go through the painful process of removing the CA role
here [https://support.microsoft.com/kb/889250?wa=wsignin1.0], and got a nasty
warning message when I went to rename the DC.
Moral of this story: Make sure your domain controller PC is named what you want it
to be before you start! it will save you headaches down the line.

Again, excellent tutorial! Thank you!

Reply

67.

Vishal Kumar
February 26, 2015 at 6:07 pm
Thank you a ton for putting up this much effort to make us understand the concept,
and that too on a non profit basis.
Regards!
Vishal Kumar
Delhi, India
Reply

68.

j
February 27, 2015 at 1:00 am
Thanks for the quick tutorial! Using this as a refresher.
Reply

69.

Syed Umair
March 3, 2015 at 2:33 pm
Thanks, it is very use full and easy to understand guide. Its really appreciated.
Reply

70.

Mubarak
April 4, 2015 at 10:15 am
Thanks. Very good article.
Reply

71.

LSlezi

April 10, 2015 at 7:34 pm

Thanks, it is very use full and easy to understand guide. Its really appreciated.
Reply

72.

shaikh mohammed ehsan

May 7, 2015 at 9:54 am
thanks a lot
god bless you
Reply

73.

Andrew Modi Tongun

May 12, 2015 at 6:18 am
This information was fact helpful. Thanks a lot.
Reply

74.

Abrar
June 1, 2015 at 4:43 pm
thanks a lot SIR
Reply

75.

Sandeep Gangurde
June 5, 2015 at 7:33 pm
Thanks sir
Reply

76.

mohan
June 8, 2015 at 6:23 am

Thanks a lot for this guide.. it is really a help..

Reply

77.

venkat
June 9, 2015 at 3:31 pm
Useful . thank u so much
Reply

78.

vignesh.R
June 11, 2015 at 12:55 pm
super ,step by step installation ,thanks
Reply

79.

Vraun
June 26, 2015 at 5:30 am
Well documented. thank you.. it was of great help.
Reply

80.

asha
June 28, 2015 at 6:13 pm
Thank u so much,I really understand how to install active directory in easy way, thank
u once again,
Reply

81.

rajasekar
July 16, 2015 at 7:27 am
yeah. good. easy to learn

Reply

82.

birendra pal
July 24, 2015 at 3:00 pm
THANKS
Reply

83.

jp
August 12, 2015 at 7:56 am
thanks!!!!!easy to install.
Reply

84.

stephen
August 15, 2015 at 2:58 pm
you are a nice teacher.setup simplified, thanks
Reply

85.

sunil
August 23, 2015 at 8:54 am
I really understand how to install active directory in easy way
thanks!!!!!easy to install
Reply

86.

bhaskar
September 16, 2015 at 6:41 am
Thanks you very much
Reply

87.

ashok kumar swain

October 1, 2015 at 11:13 pm
very very easy step follow and done
Reply

88.

Gajendra
October 10, 2015 at 7:29 am
HI,
This article is Excellent .
Reply

89.

stephen paul
November 18, 2015 at 8:07 am
thank you sir for the tutorial. i can use this in our school computer laboratory. i will
try this..help me sir in guiding upon installation and connecting other pc's.
Reply

90.

prabi
December 5, 2015 at 8:22 pm
its very easy to understood thanks
Reply

91.

Pramod chavan
December 10, 2015 at 6:22 am
This article is Excellent .
Reply

92.

ESIC Haryana Paramedical Staff Nurse Recruitment 2016

December 18, 2015 at 7:01 am
Thank you for the great article I did enjoyed reading it.
Reply

93.

JSSC Kakshpal Recruitment 2016

December 18, 2015 at 11:20 am
Very efficiently written post. It will be valuable to anybody who employees it,
including myself. Keep up the good work .
Reply

94.

ch.sandeep
December 27, 2015 at 4:07 pm
Thanks for explaining in easy way
I hope I can crack my interview tomorrow..
Reply

95.

Josephat
December 28, 2015 at 9:23 pm
thanks a lot,
Reply

96.

Ashok Sahu
December 31, 2015 at 11:23 am
Thanks ..
Reply

97.

hackatom
January 21, 2016 at 7:42 am
First in 2016!
Thanks RebelAdmin!
Reply

98.

Balaji
February 2, 2016 at 11:34 am
superb workEasy to understand
Reply

99.

Vicky
February 3, 2016 at 2:12 pm
Very Clear explanations. thanks
Reply

100.

JUNAID AZIZI

February 11, 2016 at 4:00 am

THANK U SO MUCH WHO
IT REALLY HELP ME A LOT.
Reply

101.

Jeevitha

February 11, 2016 at 10:03 pm

Hello,

my question is on Security group.

a shared path with modify access has an security group enabled.
now i add the user to that group.But still user is unable to access the data of that share
path.
what might be the reason..?and solution too
Reply

1.

Dishan M. Francis
February 14, 2016 at 6:16 pm
Did user re-authenticate ?
Reply

102.

khoya

February 25, 2016 at 10:02 am

Thank you very much.It's very helpful for me.
Reply

103.

Abdur Rahim

February 28, 2016 at 8:15 pm

Thanks a lot.
Reply

104.

Tareen Jowhar Khan

February 29, 2016 at 9:51 am

Really Very Good Lecture
Reply

105.

rajkumar

March 2, 2016 at 12:17 am

Thank you very much

Reply

106.

MD. Sajidur Rahman

March 7, 2016 at 3:26 am

Good for understand.
Reply

107.

Arun

March 8, 2016 at 9:13 am

good
Reply

108.

Zia ur Rehman

March 17, 2016 at 11:11 am

Excellent working you did.
Thanks a lot
Reply

109.

shan

April 3, 2016 at 11:33 am

very easy to understand
you have started from the basic, its really helpfull
Reply

110.

khemlal

April 4, 2016 at 9:40 am

Nice tutorial . Thanks

Reply

111.

Kausar

April 9, 2016 at 6:30 am

Very simple,Very Useful, Easy to understand.
Thanks
Reply

112.

Gnanambal

April 13, 2016 at 9:19 am

Very helpfull. Thanks alot
Reply

113.

YOGESH

April 15, 2016 at 9:57 am

REALLY ITS USEFUL
Reply

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About Me

Dishan M. Francis MVP,MBCS,CCNP,CCNA,ITIL v3 Cert,MCITP Enterprise

Administrator Windows Server 2008, MCSA(2008,2012),MCP
I'm a Technology Consultant with 10 years experience in the planning, design, and
implementation of network technologies. Background includes hands-on experience with
multi-platform, LAN/WAN environments. Demonstrated record of success in troubleshooting
Servers, increasing efficiency, and optimizing the access and utilization of shared
information. Specialist in extending technology services from corporate headquarters to field
operations. Professionally certified in a wide range of networking technologies. This blog
will use to share the experience, knowledge gain over the years and be a help for the others in
the field. This is non-profit web site and for any inquiry about post or subject matter please
feel free to contact me on rebeladm@live.com

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