The World According to Mitch

I needed to build a new domain controller for a friend’s company recently.  It is something that I have done so many times over the past two decades that some things are just instinctive… like typing dcpromo to create a domain controller.

Right… I had forgotten about that.  dcpromo has been deprecated.

You could go through the process of doing it through the Server Manager, but it really is more work than is needed.  Instead, try the following PowerShell script::

#################
#
# Script to create Active Directory Domain Controller.
# Written by Mitch Garvis for Cistel Technologies Inc.
#
# Enjoy!
#
#################

# Install Active Directory

Install-WindowsFeature AD-Domain-Services -IncludeManagementTools

# Create Domain Controller

Import-Module ADDSDeployment
Install-ADDSDomainController `
-NoGlobalCatalog:$false `
-CreateDnsDelegation:$false `
-CriticalReplicationOnly:$false `
-DatabasePath “C:\Windows\NTDS” `
-DomainName “domain.com” `
-InstallDns:$true `
-LogPath “C:\Windows\NTDS” `
-NoRebootOnCompletion:$false `
-SiteName “Default-First-Site-Name” `
-SysvolPath “C:\Windows\SYSVOL” `
-Force:$true

That should do it… just change where it says ‘domain.com’ to whatever domain you want to use.  Run it.  In a couple of minutes, you will be asked to enter a Safe mode Admin password.  A few minutes after that, you should have a brand new domain controller.

Remember, depending on the size of your Active Directory, it may take several hours to replicate to the new DC… so give it time 🙂