Enabling Active Directory on Windows 7

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Full disclosure, this is more a note for my future-self but I'll share it with you too. I got a new laptop for work (still a heavy-as-hell Dell Inspiron E65xx series so nothing to write home about) but it's completely fresh. It's nice to setup a new computer. However, I've learned that Active Directory (AD) isn't just something that's on every Windows machine, rather, it's something you enable. Not only that, there 2 ways to do it. Here's how to do it.
The First Method I Found

First, download and install RSAT (Remote Server Administration Tools) from Microsoft's website. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=7887 The installation is pretty standard so nothing special here. 

Press Start, type CMD but before pressing enter to run CMD.exe, right-click on the search results and select Run As Administrator.


Run the following commands:

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:RemoteServerAdministrationTools
dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles
dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD
dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-DS
dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-DS-SnapIns

The Second Method That Was Pointed Out To Me

It was pointed out to me after posting this note to myself and the internet that enabling these services can also be done via Control Panel > Programs & Features > Turn Windows features on or off after installing RSAT. I had no idea it would be there and the first method was what I found most when searching for a solution to this issue. 

No matter which way you do it, when finished, startup your MMC and now you're in business!

Comments

  1. Unknown6/19/2013 12:10 PM

    I found this odd (and confusing as well) when I first saw it. However, I didn't go through the command line. It adds options under "Programs and Features" in the control panel, in the "Turn Windows Features on or off" part.

    This most likely will work for Windows 8 as well. I know enabling it through the "Windows Features" part does. I use it on my work machine as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrew Hale6/19/2013 12:35 PM

      Jason, you're the second person to point this out. When Googling the issue, I never saw anything about enabling them through the Turn Windows Features On or Off dialog.

      I've updated the article to include this easier and apparently less discussed way of resolving this. Thank you.

      Delete

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