Domain Credentials

After a deployment, a computer can be joined to a workgroup or to a new or existing domain.

Workgroup

To join a computer to a workgroup, specify the name of the workgroup.

Specify Domain

To join a computer to a domain, specify the name of the domain and credentials with domain-joining privileges. The domain name can contain all alphanumeric characters, but none of the following:

backslash (\)
slash mark (/)
colon (:)
asterisk (*)
question mark (?)
quotation mark (")
less than sign (<)
greater than sign (>)
vertical bar (|)

Names can contain a period (.), but cannot start with a period. You should not use periods in Active Directory domains. If you are upgrading a domain whose NetBIOS name contains a period, change the name by migrating the domain to a new domain structure and do not use periods in the new domain names. You can also specify the DNS domain name, for example, MyDom or MyDom.MyCompany.com.

Existing Domain

To migrate domain settings from the previous operating system, enter the appropriate domain-joining credentials.

Specify OU

To join a computer to an active directory organizational unit, specify the full Active Directory path name of the OU to join. Specify the user credentials with domain-joining privileges.

For example:

OU=MyOu,DC=MyDom,DC=MyCompany,DC=com

All characters are allowed, including extended characters. As a best practice, use Organizational Unit (OU) names that describe the purpose of the OU and that are short enough to be easily managed.

Note: OU settings cannot be specified for a workgroup or domain name. Domain-joining credentials can be specified as a domain name or as a DNS domain name, as described previously. If the domain is not specified as part of the user name, the name of the domain to which you are joining is used. Formats such as Administrator@server1.mydept.us.myco.com are not allowed.

The values you specify in the wizard are stored in the CustomSettings.ini file and are mapped as follows:

Table 1. Domain Credentials value mapping in the CustomSettings.ini file
Field in the wizard	Corresponding property in CustomSettings.ini file
Workgroup/Domain Name	JoinDomain
Organizational Unit to join (OU)	MachineObjectOU
User name (Domain\user login name)	DomainAdminDomain and DomainAdmin
Password	DomainAdminPassword

BigFix performs the Join Domain using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). Lite Touch Installation (LTI) is used for deployments. LTI uses a common set of scripts and configuration files (CustomSettings.ini) to deploy the target computers. BigFix automates the domain-join process by modifying the CustomSettings.ini file used for the MDT deployment process. The settings that you specify and that are stored in the file, are then parsed by the Window Setup program, and the system attempts to join to the domain early in the deployment process.

You can modify the following properties in the CustomSettings.ini file by selecting the Manual tab.

Table 2. Join Domain Properties in the CustomSettings.ini file
Property in CustomSettings.ini file	Description
DomainAdmin	The user account credentials used to join the target computer to the domain specified in JoinDomain. Specify as domain\user_name or user_name@domain.com
DomainAdminDomain	The domain in which the user's credentials specified in DomainAdmin are defined.
DomainAdminPassword	The password of the domain Administrator account specified in the DomainAdmin property and used to join the computer to the domain
JoinDomain	The domain that the target computer joins after the operating system deployment is complete. This is the domain in which the computer account for the target computer is created. This field can contain alphanumeric characters, hyphens [-], and underscores [_]. Blanks or spaces are not allowed.
MachineObjectOU	The Organizational Unit (OU) in the target domain in which the account for the target computer is created.