Joining a Windows guest domain using VMware Cloud Director

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

This article explains the requirements to automatically join Windows virtual machines to a domain during the customization process.

Environment

VMware Cloud Director 10.x

Resolution

The automatic domain join feature during customization has these requirements:

• If the source virtual machine network properties are configured so that the domain controller is not resolvable, the domain join fails.
• If the source virtual machine is configured with a manually configured DNS, that DNS is contacted to resolve the domain controller even if the manually configured DNS is not on the network. If the DNS cannot be found, the domain join fails.
• This feature works only with Windows Guest OS.

Notes:

• A virtual machine can join a Windows guest domain when you personalize your guest operating system. In a virtual machine's Properties page, the Enable guest customization check box must be selected.

To join a Windows guest domain:

1. Click on the Virtual Machine
2. Select the VM that need to be joined to domain
3. Click the Guest OS Customization tab.
4. Click on the Edit option
   
   Note: Override organization settings is selected by default.
   
   
5. Check the box for Enable guest customization.
6. Fill in the domain details and related information
7. Click Save
   
   The selected virtual machine joins the Windows guest domain.