Step-by-step : Configure Active Directory Domain Services on Windows Server 2016

In this article you will learn how to configure Active Directory Domain Services, for this lab you should have already completed Installing Active Directory Domain Services role click here

Once you have installed the Active Directory Domain Services Role, click on the option “Promote this server to a Domain Controller.”

Just in case you closed the window, then you can also click on the notification icon on the top right side of the screen and click on “Promote this server to a domain Controller”

On the deployment configuration page select “Add a new forest” and provide a name to the domain. (The name should have an extension like, .com or any other that you prefer)

Select the default options , specify a password for DSRM (Directory Services Restore Mode) , make sure the password contains alphabets, special characters and numbers. (DSRM mode is a special mode using which you can troubleshoot most issues with Active Directory. To find out the different ways to access DSRM mode, click here)

click next

The netbios name will always be taken without the extension, hence leave the option default and click next. (To understand Netbios, click here)

Select the location of the Database, logs and SYSVOL folder.  The usual recommendation is to store the Database and logs on separate drives for performance and recoverability purposes. 

The Database Folder contains a file called NTDS.DIT, which has complete information of the ADDS database and the SYSVOL folder contains Groups Policies and Login/Logoff scripts). In case you want to know more details of the Active Directory folders click here.

On the review options page, you can review all the selections you have made, in case you want to change anything you can change now or click on Next.

On the pre-requisites checks page , click on Install.

Allow the computer to restart

You will now see the login page reflecting the new domain name that you have just created, login in with the administrator password

Open the Server Manager windows, click on tools and you will see multiple options related to Active Directory , click on Active Directory Users and Computers

Once you open Active Directory Users and Computers , you will see your domain and all the resources under the domain. You have now successfully configured Active Directory Domain Services.