netdom join

The netdom join command joins a workstation or member server to a domain. The act of joining a computer to a domain creates an account for the computer on the domain, if it doesn't already exist. It's available if you have the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) server role installed. It's also available if you install the Active Directory Domain Services Tools that are part of the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT). For more information, see How to Administer Microsoft Windows Client and Server Computers Locally and Remotely.

To use netdom join, you must run the command from an elevated command prompt.

Syntax

netdom join machine /Domain:domain [/OU:ou path] [/UserD:user]
                    [/PasswordD:[password | *]]
                    [/UserO:user] [/PasswordO:[password | *]]
                    [/PasswordM:[password | *]]
                    [/ReadOnly]
                    [/REBoot[:Time in seconds]]
                    [/SecurePasswordPrompt]

Parameters

Parameter	Description
<machine>	Specifies the name of the computer that you want to join to the domain.
/domain:<Domain>	Specifies the domain that you want to join the computer to. Using the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) format is recommended for clarity. If not specified, netdom join defaults to the domain to which the current computer belongs to.
/ou:<OUPath>	Specifies the organizational unit (OU) under which you want to create the account. You must specify the full RFC 1779 distinguished name of the OU. If not specified, netdom join creates the account under the default OU for computer objects for that domain.
/userd:<Domain>\<User>	Specifies the user account that makes the connection with the domain specified with the /domain parameter. If not specified, netdom join uses the current user account.
/usero:<User>	Specifies the user account that makes the connection with the computer you want to join to the domain. If not specified, netdom join uses the current user account.
/passwordd:<Password> | *	Specifies the password of the user account specified with the /userd parameter. If you specify *, you're prompted for the password.
/passwordo:<Password> | *	Specifies the password of the user account specified with the /usero parameter. If you specify *, you're prompted for the password.
/passwordm:<Password> | *	Specifies the password for the pre-created computer account identified by the machine name. If you specify * instead of a password, you're prompted for the password. This option must be used with the /ReadOnly parameter.
/readonly	Joins the domain using a pre-created computer account without writing to a domain controller. This doesn't require a writable domain controller. It must be used with the /Domain and /PasswordM parameters, and can't be used with the /OU parameter.
/reboot:<seconds>	Shuts down the computer and automatically reboots after the join operation completes. The seconds value is the number of seconds before automatic shutdown. The default is 20 seconds.
/securepasswordprompt	Opens a secure credentials popup for entering credentials. This is useful when specifying smartcard credentials. This option is effective only when the password is entered as *.
help | /?	Displays help at the command prompt.

Examples

To join the computer mywksta to the devgroup.contoso.com domain in the Dsys/workstations OU, run the following command:

netdom join mywksta /domain:devgroup.contoso.com /OU:"OU=Workstations,OU=Dsys,DC=devgroup,DC=contoso,DC=com"

Besides adding the computer account to the domain, this command modifies the workstation to contain the appropriate shared secret to complete the join operation.

To join the computer mywksta to the domain contoso.com, run the following command:

netdom join mywksta /domain:contoso.com /userd:user01 /passwordd:*

This command prompts you to enter the password for the domain user "user01" securely.

See also

Command-Line Syntax Key