COMMAND EVERYTHING.
Installs a new domain controller in an Active Directory domain.
Microsoft ADDSDeployment reference: Installs a new domain controller in an Active Directory domain. The syntax and selected example below are adapted from the pinned Windows Server 2025 reference. Module availability, target configuration and delegated permissions determine whether it can run in your environment. Documentation and parameter text: Microsoft, CC BY 4.0; formatting adapted by Cmdlet World. No execution testing is claimed.
Use an account with the target resource permissions documented for Install-ADDSDomainController. Modifying administrative cmdlets may require elevation or delegated administration. This catalog does not assert that ordinary users can execute the command.
Windows / ADDSDeployment · Windows Server 2025 documentation; feature/module prerequisites apply
-ADPrepCredential- Specifies the user name and password that corresponds to the account to be used for running the Adprep utility, if it is required, to prepare the directory prior to the installation of this domain controller. Use the Get-Credential cmdlet to prompt the user to supply a password.
-AllowDomainControllerReinstall- Indicates that the cmdlet continues to install this domain controller, despite the fact that another domain controller account with the same name is detected. By default, the Install-ADDSDomainController cmdlet does not continue the installation if another domain controller with the same name is found.
-AllowPasswordReplicationAccountName- Specifies an array of names of user accounts, group accounts, and computer accounts whose passwords can be replicated to this RODC. Use an empty string ("") if you want to keep the value empty. By default, only the Allowed read-only domain controller (RODC) Password Replication Group is allowed.
-ApplicationPartitionsToReplicate- Specifies an array of application directory partitions that DCPromo will replicate. Use the following format: "partition1" "partition2" "partitionN". Use * to replicate all application directory partitions.
-Confirm- Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.
-CreateDnsDelegation- Indicates that the cmdlet creates a DNS delegation that references the new DNS server that this cmdlet installs along with the domain controller. Valid for Active Directory-integrated DNS only. If this parameter is specified then the DNS delegation is created. If the value of $False is specified then no DNS delegation is created. By default, the value for this parameter is computed automatically based on the environment.
-Credential- Specifies the user name and password that corresponds to the account used to install the domain controller. Use the Get-Credential to prompt the user to supply a password.
-CriticalReplicationOnly- Indicates that the cmdlet performs only critical replication before reboot and then continues during the AD DS installation operation. This parameter skips the noncritical and potentially lengthy portion of replication. The noncritical replication happens after the installation finishes and the computer reboots. By default, the cmdlet performs both critical and noncritical portions of the replication.
-DatabasePath- Specifies the fully qualified, non-Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path to a directory on a fixed disk of the local computer that will contain the domain database, for instance, C:\Windows\NTDS. The default is %SYSTEMROOT%\NTDS.
-DelegatedAdministratorAccountName- Specifies the name of the user or group that is the delegated administrator of this domain controller.
-DenyPasswordReplicationAccountName- Specifies the names of user accounts, group accounts, and computer accounts whose passwords are not to be replicated to this RODC. Use an empty string ("") if you do not want to deny the replication of credentials of any users or computers. By default, Administrators, Server Operators, Backup Operators, Account Operators, and the Denied RODC Password Replication Group are denied. By default, the Denied RODC Password Replication Group includes Cert Publishers, Domain Admins, Enterprise Admins, Enterprise Domain Controllers, Enterprise Read-Only Domain Controllers, Group Policy Creator Owners, the krbtgt account, and Schema Admins.
-DnsDelegationCredential- Specifies the user name and password for creating DNS delegation. This parameter is skipped if the value for the CreateDnsDelegation parameter is either specified or computed to be $false.
-DomainName (required)- Specifies the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the domain where the domain controller is installed or added.
-Force- Forces the command to run without asking for user confirmation.
-InstallDns- Indicates the cmdlet installs and configures the DNS Server service on the domain controller. For domain controller installation, if this parameter is left unspecified and the current domain already hosts and stores the DNS names for the domain, then the default for this parameter is $true and the DNS server is installed. Otherwise, if DNS domain names are hosted outside of Active Directory, the default is $false and no DNS server is installed. To test if DNS domain names are hosted outside of Active Directory, this cmdlet uses a start of authority (SOA) type DNS query. For instance, if the value of DomainName is corp.contoso.com, Active Directory performs an SOA query for corp.contoso.com and ensures that the zone name in the response is corp.contoso.com.
-InstallationMediaPath- Indicates the location of the installation media that is used to install a new domain controller.
-LogPath- Specifies the fully qualified, non-UNC path to a directory on a fixed disk of the local computer that will contain the domain log files, for example, C:\Windows\Logs. The default is %SYSTEMROOT%\NTDS.
-MoveInfrastructureOperationMasterRoleIfNecessary- Indicates that the cmdlet transfers the infrastructure master role to the domain controller being installed. To successfully complete the transfer, the NoGlobalCatalog parameter must be included as well. Do not specify this parameter if you want the infrastructure master role to remain where it currently is.
-NoDnsOnNetwork- Indicates that the DNS service is not available on the network. This parameter is used only when the IP setting of the network adapter for this computer is not configured with the name of a DNS server for name resolution. It indicates that a DNS server is installed on this computer for name resolution. Otherwise, the IP settings of the network adapter must first be configured with the address of a DNS server. Omitting this parameter (the default) indicates that the TCP/IP client settings of the network adapter on this server computer is used to contact a DNS server. Therefore, if you are not specifying this parameter, ensure that TCP/IP client settings are first configured with a preferred DNS server address.
-NoGlobalCatalog- Indicates that the RODC will not be a global catalog server. By default, the domain controller that you are installing is a global catalog server.
-NoRebootOnCompletion- Indicates that the cmdlet does not restart the computer upon the completion of the operation to install the domain controller. By default, if this parameter is omitted the computer will restart upon the completion of the install operation. As a general rule, Microsoft support recommends that you not use this parameter except for testing or troubleshooting purposes because once configuration has completed the server will not function correctly as either a member server or a DC until it is rebooted.
-ReadOnlyReplica- Indicates that the cmdlet installs the domain controller as an RODC for an existing domain.
-ReplicationSourceDC- Specifies the name of the domain controller to be used as the source for replicating to this domain controller.
-SafeModeAdministratorPassword- Supplies the password for the administrator account when the computer is started in Safe Mode or a variant of Safe Mode, such as Directory Services Restore Mode. If no value is specified for this parameter, the cmdlet prompts you to enter and confirm a masked password. If specified with a value, the value must be a secure string. Supplies the password for the administrator account when the computer is started in Safe Mode or a variant of Safe Mode, such as Directory Services Restore Mode. You must supply a password that meets the password complexity rules of the domain and the password cannot be blank. If specified with a value, the value must be a secure string. If this parameter is not specified, the cmdlet prompts you to enter and confirm a masked password. This is the preferred usage when running the cmdlet interactively. If additionally there are no other arguments specified with the cmdlet, you is prompted to enter a masked password for this parameter but no confirmation of the password entered is made. This is not recommended as it could allow a mistyped password to be configured. Another available advanced option is to use the ConvertTo-SecureString cmdlet and specify the password string inline as unmasked console input, which is also not a recommended security best practice in production deployments.
-SiteName (required)- Specifies the name of an existing site where you can place the new domain controller. The default value depends on the type of installation. For a new forest, the default is Default-First-Site-Name. For all other installations, the default is the site that is associated with the subnet that includes the IP address of this server. If no such site exists, the default is the site of the replication source domain controller.
-SkipAutoConfigureDns- Indicates that the cmdlet skips automatic configuration of the DNS client settings, forwarders, and root hints. This parameter is in effect only if the DNS Server service is already installed.
-SkipPreChecks- Indicates that the cmdlet performs only a base set of validations. This behavior is equivalent to the validations that were performed when using Dcpromo.exe in earlier versions of Windows Server to add a new domain controller. When this switch parameter is set, it specifies that additional preliminary checks should be bypassed. For more information on the scope of these additional preliminary checks that the ADDSDeployment module performs by default when using Windows Server 2016, refer to the table in the section "ADPrep and Prerequisite Checking Architecture" in AD DS Simplified Administration.
-SystemKey- Specifies the system key for the media from which you replicate the data. The default is none.
-SysvolPath- Specifies the fully qualified, non-UNC path to a directory on a fixed disk of the local computer that will contain the Sysvol data, for example, C:\Windows\SYSVOL. The default is %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSVOL.
-UseExistingAccount- Indicates that the cmdlet attaches a server to an existing RODC account. If specified, a member of the Domain Admins group or a delegated user can run this cmdlet.
-WhatIf- Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.
Windows with the ADDSDeployment module and the Windows feature or management tools that provide it. Confirm target connectivity and version compatibility using the linked Microsoft reference.
This cmdlet changes system state. Review every target and parameter in the official reference, test outside production, and prepare an appropriate backup or rollback. Do not execute the example automatically.