Installing Active Directory on Windows Server 2008 R2

Posted on October 23rd, 2015

Installing Active Directory on Windows Server 2008 R2

Active Directory, introduced with the Windows 2000 server is a directory service, which stores information about the network components, authenticates network users, and enforces security policies. It works by tracking “objects,” which can be users, services, resources, or systems, and then resolving their names to the actual objects. The advantages of Active Directory are the better security management, easier administration, easier assignment of permissions to object, and the use of single source that can find any object on the network.

Active Directory has several different components (you can learn more about the active directory architecture by going to this page) and the Active Directory service is closely integrated with the Domain Name System (DNS). The directory service in Windows Server 2008 and later is called Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS).

Installing Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS) in Windows 2008 R2

Start the Server Manager console (type servermanager.msc in the search box and press Enter or click Start -> Administrative tools -> Server Manager). Select Roles from the left pane and then click Add roles:

Select Active Directory

If you see the following prompt, click Add required features

Click Next, Next again, and then the Install button

Wait for the installation to finish and click the Close button

Reboot the server. Once Active Directory Domain Service is successfully installed, you should see it under Roles in the Server Manager console. Note the message under Active Directory Domain Services “This server is not yet running as a domain controller” and click the link that follows the message in order to start the installation wizard (dcpromo.exe).

Once the Installation Wizard starts, click Next

Click on Next again

When installing a new domain Controller, select Create mew domain in a new forest and click Next

Type in the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) and click Next

Under Forest functional level select Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 (you can learn more about the available features by flowing this link).

Click Next, then Next again. If you have already installed the DNS Server service, the DNS server option will be grayed out, if not, select it and click Next. If you see a popup message to create manually a delegation to the DNS server, click Yes

Next, choose the Database, Log files, and SYSVOL folders.

Choose a strong password, confirm it, and click Next, then Next again.

Wait for the installation to complete and click the Finish button.

Reboot the server

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