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May 14, 2003 12:00 AM

How can I create a new domain under Windows Server 2003?

John Savill
Windows IT Pro
InstantDoc ID #38998
Rating: (53)

A. Windows 2003 includes a new wizard for installing and configuring DNS, which means you no longer have to perform these tasks before adding a new domain. If you have a new server and you want to create a new domain, perform the following steps:

  1. Start the DCPROMO wizard--go to Start, Run, then type 
    DCPROMO
  2. At the introduction screen, click Next.
  3. When you see the warning that Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 SP3 and earlier versions won't be able to log on to Windows 2003 domain controllers (DCs), click Next.
  4. When the wizard asks you whether this domain is a new domain or an additional DC for an existing domain, select "Domain controller for a new domain," then click Next.
    Click here to view image
  5. Select the appropriate forest option (i.e., domain in a new forest, a child domain of an existing domain tree, a new domain tree in an existing forest), then click Next. (If you select anything other than "Domain in a new forest," the wizard will prompt you to enter the name of the parent/forest domain and an account for the forest.)
  6. If the wizard determines that DNS isn't correctly configured, it will ask you to either configure the DNS client or let the DCPROMO process install and configure DNS. Select "No, just install and configure DNS on this computer," then click Next.
  7. Enter the DNS name for the new domain (e.g., savilltech.com), then click Next.
    Click here to view the figure
  8. When the wizard asks you to supply a NetBIOS name for backward compatibility with older clients and servers, accept the default (typically the left half of the DNS domain name) or provide another NetBIOS name, then click Next.
  9. After the wizard displays the locations for the database and log files (by default, these components are located in the \%systemroot%\NTDS folder), click Next.
  10. After the wizard displays the location of the System Volume (SYSVOL) folder (by default, this folder is located under %systemroot%), click Next.
  11. When the wizard asks you to establish permissions for the new domain, you have two options: "Permissions compatible with pre-Windows 2000 server operating systems" or "Permissions compatible only with Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 operating systems." Select the appropriate permissions for your domain, then click Next.
    Click here to view image
  12. When the wizard asks you to enter a Directory Services Restore Mode Administrator Password, type the password in both locations as requested, then click Next. Make sure you remember this password--Windows 2003 requires that you provide this credential if you encounter a problem and need to restore Active Directory (AD) or the system state.
  13. When the wizard presents a summary of the options you've selected, ensure that everything is as it should be, then click Next.
  14. The DCPROMO process will begin. (If you asked the wizard to install DNS, the system might prompt you for the Windows 2003 installation media.) When the process completes, the system will display a confirmation dialog box. Click Finish, then restart the machine for the changes to take effect.

This procedure should give you a good grounding for any DCPROMO action you might need to perform.

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Comments
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  • Anne
    4 years ago
    Jul 09, 2008

    capayne, I forwarded your questions to John Savill. Here is his response: A domain controller can only host a single Active Directory domain, so if you need multiple domains you need multiple domain controllers. If you wanted one physical server, you could virtualize the operating systems; however, for high availability, you really want two domain controllers per domain and really should put a domain controller for each domain on separate hardware.

    The email addresses are totally different from the domain name. While it is common to use the same SMTP alias (the bit after the @ sign) as the domain name, you don’t have to. Exchange lets you configure many SMTP alias addresses, which can be set for a single user with a different SMTP alias assigned for different users as the primary which is the alias the email will appear to come from. I think this is what you are trying to do, so you don’t actually need separate domains, you just need multiple SMTP alias addresses defined in your mail solution. There are some security issues. If these other email addresses are for people you don’t trust, they really should not have accounts in your domain, and so that may be a factor. There is some lock down you could perform to disable certain types of logon, etc.; however, the answer really depends on your environment.

    May be more information than you wanted, but essentially the email address does not have to map to the name of the domain at all, and so you have flexibility in the approach you take but a single domain controller cannot host more than one domain.

  • Craig
    4 years ago
    Jun 11, 2008

    can multiple domains be set up on one controller, as seperate trees? and can they be used as email address, for an email server?

    I want to set up 2 domains, one for my company and one to create email addresses to sell to customers for a fee. So I think I can create 2 seperate trees, one has by business domain and the second has a domain for email addresses for the public. Can this be done on one server, under one controller?

    If so, how does the user name (before the @ sign in an email address) be created? can it be set up as POP3, IMAP or a webmail access?

    Thanks for any response!!

  • Anonymous User
    7 years ago
    Feb 23, 2005

    You guys can get more info on www.VisualWin.com.

    Thanks for this article thou.

  • Anonymous User
    7 years ago
    Jan 05, 2005

    It was ar nice articale with full of information. Thanks.

  • Anonymous User
    8 years ago
    Dec 15, 2004

    Hi This has been a really good article.

    Thanks for posting.
    Hemanth

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