Joining a Domain on my new server

Question

I've just set up my AD domain on Windows Server 2008 R2. I've added users to domains before but right
now I'm completely blanking on what steps I've missed. Basically so far I have ran DCPROMO and set up my FQDN, the computer name is server and lets say the FQDN is myserver.com , i've set up a static address of 192.168.0.25, dns and default gateway are 192.168.0.1
on the server. I've added dhcp roles, my scope is 192.168.0.2-192.168.0.55. Does this seem ok so far? Now the point I need help on, I have a windows 8 laptop and to test the server/domain I wanted to try and join it, what do I need to do? Before I used virtual
box so had a seperate client machine but still have some issues I recall. I tried simply changing my laptop to be a member of the domain and entered the domain name but I get the error about an active directory for "myserver.com" could not be contacted.
What steps am I missing?

Answer 1

I don't want to get into creating a Click-by-Click walk through for all that off the top of my head.  I can give details to get you going in the right direction but you need to search out the smaller details on your own,...or use the Help that is already
built into all of these MS products.
Your home Router already determines the IP Range you use.  I'm guessing it uses 192.168.0.1 for itself. That is a very common one, but it could be something else. You'll have to check that yourself.
Turn off DHCP on the home router since it won't be needed for that anymore. Once the DC is in place it will take over that job with it's DHCP Service. You can't have two DHCP Services running at the same time on the LAN without making special accommodations,...which
there is no point in getting into that here.
Assuming the home router is using 192.168.0.1 then give the DC something like 192.168.0.10
Once the DC is promoted and the DHCP Service on the DC is up and running,...use the whole range for the Scope (ex. 192.168.0.1 thru 192.168.0.254). 
Then set an Exclusion for, say, the first 20 addresses (192.168.0.1 thru 192.168.0.20). This means that DHCP on the DC will begin with 192.168.0.21 as the first address when it starts assigning them to clients.
Within the DHCP Service add the DC's IP# for the DHCP Options pertaining to WINS and DNS. Set these at the Server Level, not the Scope Level because they will always be true even if you had other IP Segments with other clients there (which you won't, but
I'm teaching a principle here).
In DHCP at the Scope Level add the "Router" DHCP Option which will be the IP# of the home router.  If you had other network segments (which you won't) then each segment would be associated with a different DHCP Scope and have a different "router"
IP#,...hence why it needs to be a Scope Level option.
WINS needs no setup,...if it is installed and running it will "just work".
At the point where DNS, DHCP, and WINS are running then clients will get the address config from DHCP automatically when they boot up (before a user even logs in) and DNS and WINS will start populating with the Client Details.  In some cases DNS may
not populate until the Client actually joins the domain. There are settings within the DNS Service that alter that behavor.
On the DC when you open the tool Active Directory Users and Computers,...you will see Active Directory will start populating Clients as they join the domain and they will initially be listed in the Computers "container" until you manually
move them somewhere else.  Users created in Active Directory will initially be listed in the Users "container" until you move them somewhere else.