Manually join a Windows instance - Amazon Directory Service
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Manually join a Windows instance

To manually join an existing Amazon EC2 Windows instance to a Simple AD or Amazon Managed Microsoft AD directory, the instance must be launched using the parameters as specified in Seamlessly join a Windows EC2 instance.

You will need the IP addresses of the Amazon Directory Service-provided DNS servers. This information can be found under Directory Services > Directories > the Directory ID link for your directory > Directory details and Networking & Security sections.

Directory details page
To join a Windows instance to a Simple AD or Amazon Managed Microsoft AD directory

  1. Connect to the instance using any Remote Desktop Protocol client.

  2. Open the TCP/IPv4 properties dialog box on the instance.

    1. Open Network Connections.

      Tip

      You can open Network Connections directly by running the following from a command prompt on the instance.

      %SystemRoot%\system32\control.exe ncpa.cpl

    2. Open the context menu (right-click) for any enabled network connection and then choose Properties.

    3. In the connection properties dialog box, open (double-click) Internet Protocol Version 4.

  3. Select Use the following DNS server addresses, change the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server addresses to the IP addresses of the Amazon Directory Service-provided DNS servers, and choose OK.

    Setting DNS server addresses

  4. Open the System Properties dialog box for the instance, select the Computer Name tab, and choose Change.

    Tip

    You can open the System Properties dialog box directly by running the following from a command prompt on the instance.

    %SystemRoot%\system32\control.exe sysdm.cpl

  5. In the Member of field, select Domain, enter the fully qualified name of your Amazon Directory Service directory, and choose OK.

  6. When prompted for the name and password for the domain administrator, enter the user name and password of an account that has domain join privileges. For more information about delegating these privileges, see Delegate directory join privileges for Amazon Managed Microsoft AD.

    Note

    You can enter either the fully qualified name of your domain or the NetBIOS name, followed by a backslash (\), and then the user name.

    If using Amazon Managed Microsoft AD, the user name would be Admin. For example, corp.example.com\admin or corp\admin.

    If using Simple AD, the user name would be Administrator. For example, corp.example.com\administrator or corp\administrator.

  7. After you receive the message welcoming you to the domain, restart the instance to have the changes take effect.

Now that your instance has been joined to the domain, you can log into that instance remotely and install utilities to manage the directory, such as adding users and groups.