Managing Active Directory Domain Computers with an Organizational Unit (OU)
Windows XP or Vista

What is an Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU)?

A primary purpose of having your own departmental Organizational Unit is to be able to add workstations to the Active Directory domain. There is a limit of 10 machine accounts that can be added with any single ID to the default computer section of the domain. The solution to this problem is for the department to get their own OU so that the machine accounts can be created prior to adding them.

In order to add computers to a specific OU you will need to get an OU created if your department does not already have one. This can be done by submitting an AskIT help request with the subject of "Create Organizational Unit for my department". When the case is assigned, you will be contacted by Information Technology Services personnel to get the necessary information to complete your request. If your department already has an OU, the existing OU admin can create another OU within that space and grant access to it.

Once your OU has been created, you will need to install the 32-Bit Active Directory Management Tools on your Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003 computer.

Notes on using the AD Management Tools with WIndows Vista:
If you are going to install the Mangement Tools on Windows Vista Business or Enterprise, you will need to run the installer with admin privileges for it to install properly due to issues with User Access Control (UAC) which prevents applications from running with elevated privileges.

If you are running a 64-Bit version of Windows Vista, you will need to use the 64-bit version of the AD Management Tools.

To create a computer account in your OU using your Windows computer that is already a member of the uark.edu domain:

1. Click Start, Administrative Tools, Active Directory Users and Computers.
2. Navigate to your OU.
3. Click Action, New, Computer.
4. Fill in the Computer name and information and click OK to complete the process.
   NOTE:  It is recommended that computer names start with the 4 letter departmental code followed by a dash and the Dell ID tag or other unique name.

On the computer you are trying to add:

1. Right-click on "My Computer" and select Properties.
2. Click the Computer Name tab.
3. Click Change.
4. Select Domain and enter:
   uark.edu
   When you click OK you will need to enter your uark.edu email address to authenticate and complete the process.
   
   NOTE: If you change the computer name, you will need to leave it in a workgroup and reboot before being able to add it to the uark.edu Active Directory.

Further training on managing Organizational Units is available upon request.