The new Domain Controller Promotion process in Windows Server 2012 with the Active Directory Domain Services Configuration Wizard, is a nice new way to promote Windows Server 2012-based hosts to Domain Controllers, since it enables:

• Remote promotion of Windows Server 2012-based hosts to Domain Controllers
• Promotion of a group of Windows Server 2012-based hosts to Domain Controllers at once from a single wizard

Alongside the Active Directory Domain Services Configuration Wizard, Microsoft introduced three new Active Directory PowerShell Cmdlets to promote Windows Server 2012-based hosts to Domain Controllers:

• Install-ADDSForest
• Install-ADDSDomain
• Install-ADDSDomainController

These PowerShell Cmdlets each cover one of three Promotion scenarios. They offer a couple of options, not available in the Active Directory Domain Services Configuration Wizard. You might want to use these options, though. This blogpost lists them.

No automatic reboot on completion

There is no option in the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the Active Directory Domain Services Configuration Wizard to delay rebooting when the promotion was completed.

In the Active Directory PowerShell Cmdlets, it’s easy to turn of the automatic reboot upon completion of the promotion.

Simply add the -NoRebootOnCompletion:$true switch to your Domain Controller promotion one-liner.

Windows Server 2012 DFL for new Tree

A bug exists that prevents Active Directory admins from choosing a Domain Functional Level (DFL) different than Windows Server 2012 when they add a new domain tree to an existing forest.

Of course, with PowerShell, you can select any Domain Functional Level you want as long as it’s a supported level.

As an example, here is a PowerShell one-liner that will create an Active Directory domain tree, called domain2.local with the Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Functional Level in the Location1 site of the domain.local forest, equipped with both the DNS Server and the Global Catalog role:

Install-ADDSDomain -NoGlobalCatalog:$false
-CreateDnsDelegation:$false –Credential (Get-Credential)
–DatabasePath "E:\Windows\NTDS" -DomainMode "Win2008R2"
-DomainType "TreeDomain" -InstallDns:$true
-LogPath "F:\Windows\NTDS" -NewDomainName "domain2.local"
-NewDomainNetbiosName "DOMAIN" -ParentDomainName "domain.local" -NoRebootOnCompletion:$false -SiteName "Default-First-Site-Name"
-SysvolPath "F:\Windows\SYSVOL" -Force:$true

I’m sure you can modify this PowerShell one-liner to your needs.

Related posts

New features in ADDS in Windows Server 2012, Part 2: New Promotion Process
You can only set the DFL to Windows Server 2012 when you create a new domain tree on a Windows Server 2012-based computer