ConfigMgr Console
Building a CM Lab – Domain Controller VM [1]

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Series Post 1, Setting up the Domain Control, with DNS & DHCP
This post will be going over creating the Domain Controller for the Lab. This will be the basic setup, we’ll be revisiting the Domain Controller later when we need to extend the schema and start adding additional users and groups into the mix, but for now, we’re just going to get it functional, with DNS & DHCP. This post is 99% pictures, not much text. If you have questions along the way, reach out via twitter.
Overview:
- Domain Controller
- Name: DC.dev.recastsoftware.com
- LAN 1: Static IP (Internal Lab Network) 192.168.1.199
- Windows Roles: Domain Controller, DHCP, DNS
- C Drive = 100GB (1 Virtual Disk)
- Memory = 2GB
- CPU = 2 Cores

Install-windowsfeature -name AD-domain-services -IncludeManagementTools [MS Docs]

























On the DC, you also need to install the C++ Runtime which will allow you to extend the schema for CM. You can grab the C++ you need from the ConfigMgr Disc.
Disc\SMSSETUP\BIN\X64\vcredist_x64.exe – If you don’t have that installed, you’ll get errors when you try to extend schema.
So that is the fundamentals of setting up the DC. We’ll get into the Group Policy, Users and Groups in an upcoming post. If you’re following a long, at this point, you should have your gateway and domain controller. You’ll want to go back and add your gateway server into the domain if you did create that before the DC.
Blog Post List
Series Introduction – Building a CM Lab from Scratch
- Domain Controller – Setting up your Domain Controller
- Gateway Virtual Machine – Creating a Router for your Lab using Windows Server
- Certificate Authority – On Domain Controller [Optional]
- ConfigMgr Server Pre-Reqs (Windows Features)
- Configuration Settings (AD & GPOs)
- Source Server (File Share)
- ConfigMgr SQL Install
- ConfigMgr Install
- ConfigMgr Basic Settings
- ConfigMgr Collections & App Deployment
- ConfigMgr OSD
- ConfigMgr Reporting Services