This post is for newbies, for the people who are learning Windows Server and Active Directory administration. Follow below steps for adding a computer or a member server to Windows Server 2008 Active Directory based domain.

1. Go to Run and type ‘NCPA.CPL’ and launch Network settings.
2. Configure IP address, Subnet Mask, Gateway IP (if any) and DNS IP address.
3. Ensure connectivity by pining to DNS server / Domain Controller.
4. Right click on ‘Computer’ and click on properties. Click on ‘Change Settings’.
5. Click on ‘Change’ button at System Properties.
6. Select ‘Domain’ and provide domain name. In this example its ‘training’.
7. Click OK and provide user name and password of Domain Admin  or any other authorized user name.
8. Reboot the computer to enable the changes.

If your are getting any errors while adding the computer to domain, there seems to be connection issues with Domain Controller. Go to the AD server and check if it is functioning properly. Also check the DNS IP configuration at the client computer. It should be pointing to the correct AD / DNS server.

If you forgot domain administrator password for your Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, you can easily reset the password using Password Recovery Bundle 2012.