Join PC to Domain

Simple yet not so famous to those non PC networking enthusiasts.

By the way, what’s the use of joining your PC in a domain? It is easier for the system administrator to control every PC that is connected within the same domain name. After the computer was joined to the specific domain, anyone can login to the terminal as long as they have an account created on the domain server.

Easier for users, why? Because they login to any PC using their own account provided that the workstation was joined to the domain. The only downfall is that if the user created a file in Workstation ‘A’ and logged in to Workstation ‘B’, they won’t see the file they created in Workstation ‘A’.

So here’s how you join your PC to the domain(given the domain name server) using WinXP Pro:

• Go to My Computer Properties.
• Click on “Computer Name” tab.
• Click on “Change”.
• Select the radio button “Domain” or Click on more and provide the domain name that you are joining to.
• Restart the computer.

After you have joined your workstation to the domain, restarting the PC is required. And when the username and password prompt appears, enter your account details(domain account, not the local account) and select the domain name that you’re logging in.