ACTIVE DIRECTORY
Installing Windows Server 2012
The first step is to boot up from the CD or ISO image and select your language
settings.
Select your Language and input options and then click on Next.
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Click Install Now
Select the operating system you want to install. I have selected Windows Server
2012 Release Candidate Server with a GUI. The other option is server core which
was first introduced in Windows 2008 and is a minimal install with no GUI but
provides remote management through Windows PowerShell and other tools.
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Click Next
Accept the License terms
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Click Next
We are performing a new installation of Windows Server, so click on Custom.
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Partition your drives and then click Next.
The Installation of Windows then proceeds.
The installation will eventually re-start your Windows Server where it will go
through the final stages of preparing the environment for first time use.
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You will eventually be prompted to enter a password for the built-in Administrator
account.
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Click Finish
You will now be presented with the new Windows Login Screen.
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Hit Ctrl – ALT – Delete to sign in, and enter your password.
You will be presented with the new Server Manager Screen which really simplifies
the administration and configuration of your new server. .
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First thing to do is change the computer name. Windows goes ahead and provides
a default unique name in the form of WIN-<random characters>
To do so, from the Server Manager > Dashboard screen, click on Local Server and
then click on the computer name hyperlink.
This will take you to the all familiar System Properties
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Click Change, enter a more desirable Computer Name and then click OK.
You will then be prompted to restart your computer to apply the changes. Click
Ok and then Click on restart now.
After your computer has restarted, we will be presented with the Server Manager
Screen. Now we are ready to configure this server as an Active Directory
Controller.
Adding the Active Directory Domain Services Role
From the Dashboard click on “Add roles and features”. You will be presented with
the “Before you begin screen. Click Next. In the “Installation Type” screen click
on “Role-base or feature-based installation”.
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Click Next
You will be presented with the following screen asking you to select a destination
server. This is a new feature of Windows 2012 where you have the ability to
deploy roles and features to remote servers and even offline virtual hard disks.
In our case, we are selecting the current server from the server pool.
Click Next
We are now back in familiar territory (if you have worked with Windows 2008
Server) and we will select the “Active Directory Domain Services” and DNS
Server if it hasn’t already been provisioned.
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You will then be prompted to add features that are required for Active Directory
Domain Services.
Click on Add Features
Click Next
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If you want to add additional features, you can do so from the next screen,
otherwise click Next
You will now be presented with the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
screen outlining some information about AD DS and its requirements. You will
notice that DNS is a MUST and has always been the case.
Click next
You now provided with a summary of installation selections
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The installation will now begin
Upon completion you will be presented with an installation succeeded message.
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Click Close.
Back in Server Manager, you will notice that AD DS has been added to the left
navigation tree. Click on it and then click on More on the right navigation pane
where it states that Configuration is required for Active Directory Domain
Services.
You will now be presented with the All Servers Task Details, in which you will
click on Promote this server to a domain controller under Action.
The Deployment Configuration screen appears and we will select “Add a new
forest” as this is the first domain controller.
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Enter your Root domain name and then click Next.
The following screen will then appear in which you will enter and select your
Domain Controller Options.
You will then get the below warning in which you can ignore for now.
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Click Next
The NetBIOS domain name will then be inputted automatically. In the event of a
conflict, it will suggest an alternative by appending the original name with a 0.
Click Next
Confirm or change the locations of your database folder, log folder and SYSVOL
folder.
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Click Next
Review your selections and then Click Next.
If all of the prerequisites checks have passed successfully, you will be able to click
on Install to proceed.
Click Install
The installation will now proceed and you will see the progress being displayed.
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The computer will most likely restart on its own to complete the installation so
don’t be alarmed if it does. You will receive a brief warning advising so.
Upon restart, you should be able to login using your domain credentials for the
user administrator.
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