Step reference

Domain join

Join the device to an on-premises Active Directory domain, with the service credential resolved from the vault and never stored on the USB.

1 min readUpdated Jul 31, 2026

What it does

Joins the device to an on-premises Active Directory domain. The service-account credential used to perform the join is fetched from the vault at runtime and never written to the USB or the template. Domain join requires a restart, so this step triggers a reboot and the setup resumes automatically afterwards.

Options

OptionWhat it controls
Domain (FQDN)The fully-qualified domain name to join, e.g. corp.acme.local. Required.
OU pathOptional. Place the computer object in a specific organisational unit.
Service account passwordThe vault secret for the account permitted to join machines to the domain. Required.

Good to know

  • A reboot is part of the step. That's expected; the setup picks up where it left off once the machine is back.
  • If the join fails, the setup stops by default.

Using Autopilot Hybrid Azure AD Join? Skip this step

Intune already performs the domain join through the Hybrid Join profile. This step is for clients who aren't using it.

Part of the step catalogue.