How to Install and Configure Active Directory on Windows Server 2025 (Step-by-Step Guide)
Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) is the core identity and access management platform for Windows networks, used in environments ranging from home labs to large enterprise infrastructures. With Windows Server 2025, Microsoft continues to refine the installation experience, security defaults, and integration points, while the core deployment process stays very consistent with Windows Server 2016–2022. Setting up your first domain controller gives you centralized user & computer management, Group Policy control, Kerberos authentication, DNS integration, and the foundation for many other Microsoft services. In this step-by-step tutorial, we'll walk through promoting a fresh Windows Server 2025 instance to a domain controller by creating a brand-new Active Directory forest. Prerequisites Windows Server 2025 installed (Datacenter or Standard) Internet access for updates (optional but recommended before starting) Administrator privileges Note: This guide creates a new forest (...