How to Add Computers to a Domain Using PowerShell

Sometimes it can useful to add a computer to a domain using the command line, such as when no GUI is available (as is the case with Server Core), or just to expedite the process when configuring multiple computers. In this easy Ask the Admin, I’ll show you how to add one or more Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 PCs to a domain using PowerShell.

The instructions in this article assume that DNS resolution is working correctly, i.e. you can resolve the domain name of the Active Directory domain you want to join, and that you have connectivity to a domain controller (DC).

Performing a Domain Join Using PowerShell

Once you’ve established correct DNS resolution for the domain name, start a PowerShell prompt with local administrative privileges.

• Press the Windows key to switch to the Start menu, type PowerShell and press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER. If prompted, enter a local administrator username and password, or give consent to run PowerShell.
• In the PowerShell prompt, type add-computer –domainname ad.contoso.com -Credential AD\adminuser -restart –force and press Enter. Enter a password for the domain administrator account when prompted.

The PC should now restart and be joined to the domain once it has restarted.

Join Multiple PCs to a Domain

You can add more than one computer to the domain, either by using names from a text file or listing them in the command line as a comma-delimited list. You can use the –computername parameter even if PowerShell Remoting isn’t enabled on the computers listed in the command line.

• In a PowerShell command prompt, type add-computer -computername srvcore01, srvcore02 -domainname ad.contoso.com –credential AD\adminuser -restart –force and press Enter.
• Type a password for the domain administrator account when prompted.

The command above adds srvcore01 and srvcore02 to ad.contoso.com domain. The account used to run the PowerShell prompt would need permission to connect and join both servers to the domain. You could also specify a list of servers in a text file (servers.txt) as follows:

add-computer -computername (get-content servers.txt) -domainname ad.contoso.com –credential AD\adminuser -restart –force

In the above command, servers.txt would need to be located in the PowerShell working directory.