Windows Server 2012 Essentials (W2012e), in many ways, gathers together some of the best features amongst the Windows Home Server (WHS), Windows Storage Server 2011 Essentials, and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials products.
Those who have grown to love and use WHS over the years know that WHS is not a domain server, and thus there is no need to do a domain join of your workstations. You run the connector software and you’re done.
W2012e, on the other hand, is a domain server. And when you run the connector software from a workstation, your workstation is automatically domain joined to the server, which requires a reboot of the workstation, and then it proceeds through creating a new account on the workstation.
Not that that’s bad … domain-joined workstations can take full advantage of things such as group policy, domain credentials, and VPN.
But what are the options for the WHS users and sites that do not need or want to join workstations to the domain?
Microsoft has released instructions (click here) for a regedit change that will bypass the domain join requirements when deploying a workstation in a W2012e network. Please note that although these instructions were posted on the Microsoft Technet forum site, they should not be considered an “officially supported” setup.
To skip joining the domain during a client deployment
- On your client computer, go to Start and search for command prompt “cmd“.
- In the search results, find cmd.exe and run as administrator.
- Type the following command prompt:
reg add “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Server\ClientDeployment” /v SkipDomainJoin /t REG_DWORD /d 1 - Complete the steps on the Connect Computers to the Server Help topic.