Adding Users and Computers to a new Active Directory domain
Once you have installed a new Active Directory domain, your next task is probably to create user accounts and add computers to the appropriate security groups. This article provides a simple step-by-step process to achieve this function.
NOTE: In this article we are assuming you have an Active Directory server running on a Windows Server 2003
Creating a new user
To create a new active directory user, use the following steps:
- Click Start
- Select Administrative Tools, then click Active Directory Users and Computers to start the AD console.
- Click on your domain name, and expand the contents.
- Right click Users, select New, and then click User.
- Type the first name, last name, and user logon name of your new user, and then click Next.
- Type a new password, confirm the password, and then select one of the following check boxes:
- Users must change password at next logon (recommended for most users)
- User cannot change password
- Password never expires
- Account is disabled
- Click Next to continue.
- Review the information that you provided, and if everything is correct, click Finish.
Group Access
After you've created a new user you may need to give that user account membership to a group that permits that user to perform administrative tasks.
In this example we will give this user account full administrative access by making it a member of the Schema, Enterprise, and Domain administrators groups. using the following steps:
- On your AD console, right click the new account that you created, and then click Properties.
- Click the Member Of tab, then click Add.
- In the Select Groups dialog box, specify a group, and then click OK to add the groups that you want to the list.
- Repeat the selection process for each group in which the user needs account membership.
- Click OK to finish.
Add a Computer to a domain
One final step maybe is to add a computer to the domain, follow these steps:
- Log on the computer that you want to add to the domain.
- Right click My Computer, and then click Properties.
- Click the Computer Name tab, and then click Change.
- In the Computer Name Changes dialog box, click Domain under Member Of, and then type the domain name. Click OK.
- When you are prompted, type the user name and password of the account that you previously created, and then click OK.
- A message that welcomes you to the domain is generated.
- Click OK to return to the Computer Name tab, and then click OK to finish.
- Restart the computer if you are prompted to do so.