How to join a domain in PowerShell

How to join a domain in PowerShell

To join a domain in PowerShell, you can use the Add-Computer cmdlet. This cmdlet allows you to join a computer to a domain and specify the credentials that are used to perform the join operation.

Example

Here is an example of how to use the Add-Computer cmdlet to join a domain:

# Set the domain to join
$domain = "MyDomain"

# Set the username and password for the domain join
$username = "DomainJoinUser"
$password = ConvertTo-SecureString "MyPassword" -AsPlainText -Force
$credentials = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential($username, $password)

# Join the domain
Add-Computer -DomainName $domain -Credential $credentials -Restart

In this example, we first set the name of the domain that we want to join using the $domain variable.

Then, we set the username and password that will be used to perform the domain join operation.

The password is stored in a secure string using the ConvertTo-SecureString cmdlet, and the username and password are combined into a PSCredential object using the New-Object cmdlet.

Finally, we use the Add-Computer cmdlet to join the domain, specifying the domain name, credentials, and the -Restart parameter to restart the computer after the join operation is complete.

You can also use the Add-Computer cmdlet to specify additional options for the domain join operation, such as the organizational unit (OU) where the computer account will be created, and the name of the local computer.

For example:

# Set the domain to join
$domain = "MyDomain"

# Set the username and password for the domain join
$username = "DomainJoinUser"
$password = ConvertTo-SecureString "MyPassword" -AsPlainText -Force
$credentials = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential($username, $password)

# Set the OU and computer name
$ou = "OU=Computers,DC=MyDomain,DC=com"
$computerName = "MyComputer"

# Join the domain
Add-Computer -DomainName $domain -Credential $credentials -OUPath $ou -NewName $computerName -Restart

In this example, we use the -OUPath and -NewName parameters to specify the OU and computer name for the domain join operation. Then, we use the Add-Computer cmdlet to join the domain and restart the computer after the join operation is complete.

Conclusion

To join a domain in PowerShell, you can use the Add-Computer cmdlet. This cmdlet allows you to join a computer to a domain and specify the credentials that are used to perform the join operation.