Category: Active Directory

• Distinguished Names: How do I…

  Yeah yeah, I know… A little while ago I talked about how to determine the Distinguished Name (DN) of an Active Directory Object, and I got a flurry of requests for doing it with PowerShell. Now, normally I do like to show you how to do things via the GUI, and then what the PowerShell…

  Mitch Garvis

  July 8, 2015

  Active Directory, Distinguished Name, IT Pro, PowerShell

• Creating a New AD Forest in Windows Server Core (Revisited)

  Several years ago Steve Syfuhs and I sat down and figured out how to create a new Active Directory forest in Windows Server Core.  It was an interesting experience, and even though I later gave rights to that article to the Canadian IT Pro Team (at the time it was Damir Bersinic) when you search…

  Mitch Garvis

  October 9, 2013

  Active Directory, Command Line Switches, Domain Controllers, Server Core, Server Manager

  Command-line interface, Installation (computer programs), IP address, Microsoft Windows, PowerShell, Windows PowerShell, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012

• BitLocker Recovery

  Like all of you I never expect a day that starts with a call to IT Helpdesk to go well.  Fortunately this story has a happy ending. This morning I got to my desk and discovered that my laptop corrupted somehow last night.  No problem – Windows 8 has some great self-healing tools built in,…

  Mitch Garvis

  September 5, 2013

  Active Directory, BitLocker, Windows 8

• Activation Headaches: Here is your aspirin!

  This post was originally written for the Canadian IT Pro Connection. There are three concepts in Microsoft licensing that people often mistake for a single entity, when in fact the three are connected but very separate.  They are: Licensing Activation Product Keys Because the three are so tied together it is easy to get yourself…

  Mitch Garvis

  March 14, 2013

  Activation, Active Directory, KMS, licensing

  Activation, Key Management Server, KMS, licensing, Product Keys, VLK

• Following My Own Advice: New DCs at SWMI

  Earlier this year I published an article in which I told you that it was okay to virtualize your domain controllers; however in the piece I opposed the idea of doing a P2V (physical to virtual) migration of them, or to upgrade them from one version of the OS to another. This weekend I followed…

  Mitch Garvis

  October 10, 2012

  Active Directory, Domain Controllers, Windows Server 2012

• Virtualizing your Domain Controllers

  I am asked all the time what the best practices are for domain controllers in a virtualized environment.  There are several that I will call out, but let’s begin with the simplest rule. You should never have ONE domain controller. This rule is not only true in virtualized environments, it is always true.  If you…

  Mitch Garvis

  April 26, 2012

  Active Directory, Domain Controllers, FSMO Roles, Virtualization

  Active Directory, DHCP, Domain controller, Domain Name System, IP address, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Small Business Server