Build a Test Domain
Build Windows Active Directory from Scratch
Table of Contents
Why?
Building an Active Directory environment from scratch gives you many. For one, it is the most likely environment you are going to run into at the enterprise level. It will help you quickly understand problems with networking and allows you to learn/apply concepts like access control.
Assumptions
I am going to be doing this on my Proxmox server, this can also be done on your desktop virtualization software. The only assumptions are clean installs of Windows Server 2016/2022 and Windows 10. I walk through how to create VM’s here.
Disclaimer
I don’t recommend using this as a guide to build a production active directory instance. This will not cover changing names for servers or hardening the systems, just building a basic Windows AD environment and joining the machines to the domain.
Configuring Active Directory on the Server
- Load the Windows Server 2016/2022 VM, press CTRL + ALT + Delete to unlock the machine
2. Server Manager should open once the machine boots, go ahead and click “Add Roles and Features”
3. We are going to be adding “Active Directory Domain Services”, you should get a pop up when you click it that adds more features, go ahead and click “Add features”
4. Go ahead and click next through the default screens until you get to the results screen. Then click “Promote this server to a domain controller”.
5. Select “Add a new forest” and give your root domain name whatever you choose. Just note it must include a “.”, in this case I put “.local” after my name.
6. Input your domain controller DSRM password, please make it strong, it does have to meet complexity requirements.
7. Click next through “DNS Options”, “Additional Options”, “Paths”, and “Review options”.
8. At the “Prerequisites Check” click “Install”.
9. Once it is completed, you will be automatically signed out.
10. Notice, the new username shows your domains name before your account now. That’s it, you have built a basic Active Directory Forest/Domain! Now let’s add machines to the domain.
Joining the Machine to the Domain
- Go ahead and load the Win10 Vm and login.
2. The first thing we are going to do is set the “DNS Server” to the Domain Controller we just created, in order to do that, right click on the “Network” icon and select “Open Network & Internet Settings”. Then select “Change Adapter Options”
3. Right click on your NIC (network interface card) and select “Properties”
4. Double click on “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)”
5. Select “Use the following DNS server addresses” and input the IP address from the domain controller you created earlier. Then select “Ok”
6. At the search bar you can enter “View your PC name”.
7. Select “Rename this PC (advanced)” on the right side of the screen.
8. Select “Change” to rename the computer.
9. This is your chance to change the machine name, if you’d like. Select “Domain:” and input the name you gave your domain earlier and select “Ok”
10. You should get a prompt for your account. Input the admin account formatted as DOMAIN\Username.
11. You now have a domain with a machine connected to it.
You did it!
