MDT 2012 and DomainJoin

Question

I am trying to understand when MDT 2012 joins the domain during a standard client task sequence if the settings are specified in CustomSettings.ini. In 2012 Beta 1, I had machines joining the domain during the "Recover from Domain" step. After upgrading
to 2012 RTM, machines are joining the domain well before that step (even before first logon).
Is this expected behavior and is there an easy way to change it?

Answer 1

By default, the domain join happens as part of the OS installation - the unattend.xml specifies to join the domain.  If you want that to happen later, e.g. using the "Recover from Domain" step, you would need to remove the join entries from the unattend.xml
associated with your task sequence.  The Lite Touch wizard will set the same task sequence variables in either case, and the "Recover from domain" step will notice that the unattend.xml didn't do the join.
Thanks, -Michael Niehaus Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit [email protected] http://blogs.technet.com/mniehaus
I have one question for you. I use a reference TS and i don't want that the reference computer joins the domain.
My CS.ini uses the joindomain and credentials (see below).
I removed the "recover from domain" from my reference TS.
But my reference computer still joins the domain !!
Do i need to modify unattend.xml on my TS ? Domain settings are empty there. I don't understand why it does not work !
<settings pass="specialize">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State">
<Identification>
<Credentials>
<Username></Username>
<Domain></Domain>
<Password></Password>
</Credentials>
<JoinDomain></JoinDomain>
<JoinWorkgroup></JoinWorkgroup>
<MachineObjectOU></MachineObjectOU>
</Identification>
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State">
<UserAccounts>
<AdministratorPassword>
<Value>Azerty01</Value>
<PlainText>true</PlainText>
</AdministratorPassword>
</UserAccounts>
<AutoLogon>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
<Username>Administrator</Username>
<Domain>.</Domain>
<Password>
<Value>Azerty01</Value>
<PlainText>true</PlainText>
</Password>
<LogonCount>999</LogonCount>
</AutoLogon>
<Display>
<ColorDepth>32</ColorDepth>
<HorizontalResolution>1024</HorizontalResolution>
<RefreshRate>60</RefreshRate>
<VerticalResolution>768</VerticalResolution>
</Display>
<FirstLogonCommands>
<SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<CommandLine>wscript.exe %SystemDrive%\LTIBootstrap.vbs</CommandLine>
<Description>Lite Touch new OS</Description>
<Order>1</Order>
</SynchronousCommand>
</FirstLogonCommands>
[Settings]
Priority=Default
[Default]
_SMSTSORGNAME=SHA
OSInstall=Y
SkipAppsOnUpgrade=NO
SkipAdminPassword=YES
SkipProductKey=YES
SkipComputerName=NO
SkipDomainMembership=YES
SkipUserData=YES
UserDataLocation=AUTO
SkipLocaleSelection=YES
SkipTaskSequence=NO
SkipTimeZone=YES
SkipApplications=YES
SkipBitLocker=YES
SkipSummary=YES
SkipBDDWelcome=YES
SkipCapture=YES
SkipFinalSummary=NO
TimeZone=035
TimeZoneName=Eastern Standard Time
UILanguage=fr-FR
KeyboardLocale=fr-FR
UserLocale=fr-FR
JoinDomain=MDT
DomainAdmin=MDT\JoinAccount    
DomainAdminPassword=Azerty01
MachineObjectOU=ou=NewComputers,dc=MDT,dc=local
Thanks you !