Join workstation to a new domain unattended

[Igors]

Here's the problem:
There are 50 computers, some of them are scattered in
radius of 200-300 miles.
All of those computers needed to be joined into new
domain. Of course running around and doing everything
manually isn't a very good option.
Unattended installation is good only for reinstallation or
clean install (as far as I know).
Maybe someone knows a way to join workstation to a new
domain remotely or using a script?

Thanks

 

[Bob]

In your unattend file make sure you have the following

[Identification]
JoinDomain= (your domain name)
DomainAdmin= (some account that can add computers to the
domain)
DomainAdminPassword=(password for above acct)

works like a charm

 

[Oli Restorick [MVP]]

You've posted this into setup_deployment, which would lead me to believe
you're trying to do this during an unattended setup. However, it sounds
like you're trying to do this with existing installations.

Take a look at netdom.exe, which is in the support tools on your
installation CD. Also (to enable netdom to be run on remote machines), you
might like to play with psexec, part of pstools from www.sysinternals.com.

Regards

Oli

 

[Igors]

Thank you for your advice!
I'll take a look at it.
Appreciate your help.

 

[Gerry Hickman]

Further to Oli's comments:

One thing to look out for with remote Netdom. If you "unjoin" a machine,
make sure you append the /reboot option, otherwise you could find
yourself LOCKED OUT of being able to reboot remotely as you no longer
have domain admin rights. If you can't reboot you may not be able to
hack back into a machine that's 100 miles away.

When you join, you'll probably need two usernames and passwords; one for
the "network" (domain) and one for the "local" machine. You may have to
prefix any user name with the NetBIOS version of it's domain name, NOT
the Active Directory name. Again, make sure to reboot after the join.

An other thing to look out for is name resolution; if the "new" computer
is not in DNS (why would it be?), and if you don't have WINS (why would
you?), how is NETDOM going to find the machine by name?

Have a way to making sure the remote machine rebooted correctly - I use
Event viewer to make sure all services started correctly.

Do lots of testing with a machine sitting on the next desk, before doing
anything 100 miles away! Obviously make sure no one is logged on when
you do it.

 

[Oli Restorick [MVP]]

All very good advice. Thanks Gerry.

Oli

Further to Oli's comments:

One thing to look out for with remote Netdom. If you "unjoin" a machine,
make sure you append the /reboot option, otherwise you could find
yourself LOCKED OUT of being able to reboot remotely as you no longer
have domain admin rights. If you can't reboot you may not be able to
hack back into a machine that's 100 miles away.

When you join, you'll probably need two usernames and passwords; one for
the "network" (domain) and one for the "local" machine. You may have to
prefix any user name with the NetBIOS version of it's domain name, NOT
the Active Directory name. Again, make sure to reboot after the join.

An other thing to look out for is name resolution; if the "new" computer
is not in DNS (why would it be?), and if you don't have WINS (why would
you?), how is NETDOM going to find the machine by name?

Have a way to making sure the remote machine rebooted correctly - I use
Event viewer to make sure all services started correctly.

Do lots of testing with a machine sitting on the next desk, before doing
anything 100 miles away! Obviously make sure no one is logged on when
you do it.

 

[Igors]

Is it necessary to remove the workstation from old domain
to join it to new one?
And, sorry for stupid question - what's the difference
between JOINING workstation into domain and ADDING it?

 

[Gerry Hickman]

Is it necessary to remove the workstation from old domain
to join it to new one?

As far as I know yes, for a start the domain admin rights would be
different, the machine accouts would need deleted/re-created, the secure
channel would need re-created.

What's not so cool is that you have to unjoin/rejoin just to rename the
damn thing!

And, sorry for stupid question - what's the difference
between JOINING workstation into domain and ADDING it?

Sorry, it's semantics. Some articles call it "join/unjoin", others call
it "add/remove". The reason I use the "join" word a lot is that it makes
it clear we're talking about domains.