0

The IT department at my school formatted my computer because all the drivers had troubles. The image they use is faulty and has given me lots of problems like the computer don't warn me about little battery, the sound settings is unavailable and so on. It has problems connection to the internet.. I've told them again and again that they have to fix it (we pay for the computer ourselves) but they just shrug and say they don't know how to fix it and that they can't do anything about the image they have.

If I format the computer myself, can I connect to the school domain again, or am I in a bit of a dillemma here?

EDIT: Admin on the domain or on the local computer? And we have a network on the school only those who bought the computer can use, other have to use the guest network. Is this set up via the domain, or through software on the computer? Does joining the domain give my school complete administrative rights to the computer, or is it just like using the image they use?

Thanks for your reply!

3 Answers 3

2

You should always be able to join the domain through your computer properties dialog Computer properties dialogChange domain dialog

But you might need to provide administrative credentials in the process.

Update: In response to your comments: To join a domain (to my knowledge) you need to provide credentials for an account that is part of the Administrators group of the domain. A local administrator account won't be sufficient. When joining your computer into the domain, you give up control over your computer. Even while logged into a local Administrator account, some functionality might no longer be available to you. A domain administrator could set it up so that your computer is administered by your domain user account (but given how you described how they dealt with your current issue, that is unlikely).
After you joined the domain, you can use your assigned username and password to log into your domain user account (as you suggested in your comment).
How they limit certain users/devices to certain networks could be achieved in several ways. But I could only offer wild assumptions on that point.

3
  • Thanks for your quick reply! Admin on the domain or on the local computer? And we have a network on the school only those who bought the computer can use, other have to use the guest network. Is this set up via the domain, or through software on the computer? Does joining the domain give my school complete administrative rights to the computer, or is it just like using the image they use? Jan 29, 2012 at 16:50
  • And we naturally have a username and password. Do I connect to the domain as you described, and just log off and log on again with the username and password I was given at start of the year? Jan 29, 2012 at 16:52
  • @50ndr33: 1) Usually yes; the local "Administrators" group includes "Domain Admins". You can usually remove it, though -- but it can be enforced via Group Policy. 2) Yes. Jan 29, 2012 at 17:31
1

If the domain is using default settings, you DON'T HAVE to use a Domain User who is member of the Domain Administrator group.

A Normal Domain User CAN join the domain (with a limit of 10 times). So, if you have a username in the domain, just enter thoses credentials when prompted.

Most admins don't disable this default configuration.

1
  • That's not my experience with Windows Small Business Server: Domain admin credentials ARE required to join domain. I guess if you say "default settings", you should say which system you're referring to. The question doesn't specify, you don't either, I see a risk here of him getting locked out of the domain...
    – pgr
    Mar 16, 2015 at 17:19
1

This being a multi-part question:

Yes, you can (and it sounds like you should) reload your computer from scratch. You don't need to use their image to be a domain-joined machine. Make sure before you blow it away, though, that you have all your ducks lined up regarding licensing. (See if you have a sticker on the machine, open license, whatever. Though they don't sound like your favorite people right now, the IT department will probably have a pretty good idea how your machine is licensed.)

You will need to have your domain credentials (if your machine is currently a domain machine, then that's probably the user creds you use to log in every day.) Here's the hiccup: your account must be a a member of a group which has "Join the Domain" rights in Group Policy. As I am not one of your domain admins, I can't speak to whether this is the case--if not, then you will need to drag your computer to them and get them to punch in some admin creds when you domain-join.

And finally, yes, by joining the domain, you are giving your IT staff godlike rights on your computer. That's the very nature of an Active Directory domain environment, it's actually part of the whole point of AD. (The other being that it's a good meeting point between security and convenience, unified credential structure and management and all that.)

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .