Typical steps for joining a Mac to an Active Directory domain

Steps

  1. Using an account with Administrator privileges, log on to the Mac computer that you want to join to an Active Directory domain.
  2. Open the Directory Utility. On OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), go to: /System/Library/CoreServices
  3. If necessary, click the padlock icon and enter your password to unlock the Directory Utility.
  4. Select the box next to Active Directory to enable Active Directory support.
  5. Highlight Active Directory and click on the Pencil icon to configure the Active Directory connection.
  6. Under Domain, enter the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN).
  7. Under Computer ID, enter the computer name.
  8. Click Bind. You are prompted for network credentials and a computer OU. Enter your OU admin account and password, and the computer OU location. For example:
    ou=computers,ou=orgunits,dc=ad,dc=example,dc=com

    Your machine will be bound to the specified Active Directory.

  9. Click Apply in the Directory Utility to save your changes and restart the machine.