Microsoft KB Archive/266651

= Using Netdom 2.0 to create computer accounts on admin-specified domain controllers =

Article ID: 266651

Article Last Modified on 3/1/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

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This article was previously published under Q266651



SUMMARY
This article describes how to use the Netdom utility (Netdom.exe) included in Windows 2000 Support Tools and in the Windows 2000 resource kits to create a computer account for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 member workstations or servers on a specific Windows 2000 domain controller.



MORE INFORMATION
Netdom is a command-line utility that you can use to manage Windows domains. This utility includes options to create and move computer accounts for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 domain members. In earlier versions of Windows, user and computer accounts were created on the primary domain controller (PDC) in a Windows domain; the new accounts were not available on remote domain controllers until full replication had taken place. Netdom 2.0 contains a join command that you can use to create a computer account on any specified Windows 2000 domain controller. Netdom 2.0 uses a new NetJoinDomain API, which is used in conjunction with multiple-master replication on Windows 2000 domain controllers, to create security principals (user, computers and groups) on any domain controller in a domain. When you create the computer account on a domain controller in the same Active Directory site as the client workstation for which the account is created, you reduce or eliminate replication latency delays that might prevent users from logging on to the domain immediately.

The syntax of this join command is:

C:\>netdom help join

NETDOM JOIN /Domain: [/OU: ] [/UserD: ]

[/PasswordD:[ | *]]

[UserO: ] [/PasswordO:[ | *]]

[/reboot[:]]

When you run this command, the following information is displayed:

NETDOM JOIN Joins a workstation or member server to the domain. Where:

is the name of the workstation or member server to be joined

/Domain        Specifies the domain which the machine should join

/UserD         User account used to make the connection with the domain

specified by the /Domain argument

/PasswordD     Password of the user account specified by /UserD. Use * to prompt for the password

/UserO         User account used to make the connection with the machine to be joined

/PasswordO     Password of the user account specified by /UserO. Use * to prompt for the password

/OU            Organizational unit under which to create the machine account. This must be a fully qualified RFC 1779 DN for the OU. If not specified, the account will be created under the default organization unit for machine objects for that domain.

/REBoot        Specifies that the machine should be shutdown and automatically rebooted after the Join has completed. The number of seconds before automatic shutdown can also be provided. Default is 20 seconds

Additions and modifications
The /Domain switch defines the name of the Windows domain that the computer joins. You can use an optional parameter on the /Domain switch and specify the netBIOS name of a single Windows 2000 domain controller on which the computer account is created, for example:

/Domain: \

NOTE: The optional parameter is not listed in the online Help that is displayed by the netdom help join command.

When you specify the name of the Windows 2000 domain controller, you can create computer accounts on domain controllers in the same Active Directory site as the client by using the account and the domain controllers in branch offices or staging sites.

For example, if you want to join a \\Windows2000Pro workgroup computer on the \\NA-DC-01 domain controller in the NORTHAMERICA.COM domain, the full netdom join command line is:

netdom join windows2000pro /Domain:NA\NA-DC-01 /Userd:NA\administrator /Passwordd:* /UserO:administrator /PasswordO:*

Note Always prepend the domain name to the user that is passed in the /userd parameter.

The wildcard character (*) prompts for the respective passwords of the administrator accounts on the local computer and the A.COM domain. The &quot;/UserO:administrator /PasswordO:*&quot; portion of the command is optional if the logged-on user has administrative rights on the computer being joined.

For more information about the NetJoinDomain API, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/netmgmt/netmgmt/netjoindomain.asp

The /reboot switch, which optionally restarts the computer after the join, suggests that the default restart interval is 20 seconds. Netdom 2.0 hard codes the restart timeout value to 30 seconds.

Keywords: kbinfo KB266651

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