How To Join a Windows 11 Computer To an Active Directory Domain

To centrally manage your Windows 11 devices, implementing security policies and group settings, it’s crucial to integrate them into an Active Directory domain. This post details the steps for joining a Windows 11 computer to an Active Directory domain.

Prerequisites and Preparations

Before incorporating your Windows 11 computer into a domain, certain conditions must be met, and preparations are required:

• Ensure your computer runs on Windows 11 Pro, Education, Pro for Workstations, or Enterprise edition. Home editions do not support domain joining, but you can acquire a Home to Pro upgrade license.
• Confirm your computer can resolve the domain name and ping the domain controller.
• Align your computer’s local time with the domain controller’s time, maintaining a five-minute time difference for Kerberos authentication. Read this article : Sync Clock Time with Internet Time Server in Windows 11
• Assign a unique and meaningful name to your computer for domain use. Modify the computer name and restart your computer. You Can read this article to know how : How To Rename Computer Name in Windows 11
• Possess a user account with delegated administrative permissions for domain joining. This could be a standard user account (allowing up to 10 devices per domain user by default) or an elevated domain administrator account.

Joining Windows 11 to a Domain :

1. Click Start and then Settings
   
   
2. From the left side pane, click on System
   
   
3. In the System windows, scroll down and click on About
   
   
4. In the About page, beside Related links, click on Domain or Workgroup
   
   
5. In the System Properties window, click Change beside the : To rename this computer or change its domain or workgroup. click Change
   
6. Under Member of, select the radio button beside Domain
   
7. Type the domain name you wish to join and then click OK.  
   
8. A security window pops up asking for the username and password of the domain you want to join. Write them and click OK
   
9. A tiny window welcomes you to the domain; click Ok.
10. A window will prompt you to restart the computer. After the restart, your computer is a member of the Active Directory domain you joined to.