Install Active Directory in Windows 11? This is how!

Active Directory is a tool in Windows to manage users in a domain. It allows you to set rules and manage all users and computers in a domain.

For example, you can use Active Directory to indicate which computers belong to which network, which users have access to a certain storage space, who has access to which apps, and much more.

Windows 11 servers and Enterprise editions come pre-installed with Active Directory. All domain administrators have to do is open it. However, if you want to use Active Directory in Windows 11 Pro edition, you will need to manually install and enable it. It is not possible to install Active Directory in Windows home edition.

Install Active Directory in Windows 11

Right-click on the start button. Click on Settings in the menu.

Click on Apps in the menu on the left. Then click Optional parts.

Then click the “Show features” button to add an optional feature to Windows 11.

At the top of the search bar type: RSAT. Click “RSAT: Active Directory Domain Services and Lightweight Directory Services Tools” to install Active Directory. Click next.

RSAT means “Remote Server Administration Tools” and are Microsoft utilities to control computers remotely.

Click Install to install Active Directory.

In the recent actions you can see the progress of the optional “Active Directory” installation.

To start Active Directory users and groups, right-click on the start button. Click Run in the menu. In the run window type:

dsa.msc

Active Directory users and groups starts.

To open the Active Directory Administration Center, click the magnifying glass in the taskbar. In the search window type: Active Directory and click Active Directory Administrative Center.

To use the management center, your computer must be part of one domain.

Install Active Directory via Command Prompt

If you prefer to install Active Directory via the Command Prompt, this is possible. Open one Command Prompt as Administrator. In the Command Prompt window type the following command:

DISM /Online /Add-Capability /CapabilityName:Rsat.ActiveDirectory.DS-LDS.Tools~~~~0.0.1.0

Install Active Directory via PowerShell

If you prefer to install Active Directory via PowerShell, this is also possible. Open a PowerShell applet as Administrator. In the PowerShell window type the following command:

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name Rsat.ActiveDirectory.DS-LDS.Tools~~~~0.0.1.0

I hope this helped you. Thank you for reading!