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Binding and Unbinding to Active Directory from Mac OS via Command Line
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macs-on-active-directory.md

Binding and Unbinding to Active Directory from Mac OS via Command Line

  • Open the Terminal Application
  • Type in sudo -i and type in your Mac Administrator account password. sudo gives you root level or administrator level privileges.

To View current Active Directory Settings

dsconfigad -show

To Unbind a Computer from an Active Directory Domain

dsconfigad -f -r -u

Note: <username> needs to be replaced with domain administrator who has binding/unbinding rights.

To Bind a Mac Laptop Computer to an Active Directory Domain

<computer-name> --> replace this with the computer name you want to bind to Active Directory
<username> --> needs to be replaced with domain administrator who has binding/unbinding rights.
<domain> --> replace with domain you want to join.

dsconfigad -a <computer-name> -u <username> -ou "CN=Computers,DC=network,DC=pcpc,DC=org" -domain <domain> -mobile enable -mobileconfirm enable -localhome enable -useuncpath enable -groups "Domain Admins,Enterprise Admins" -alldomains enable

To Bind a Mac Desktop Computer to an Active Directory Domain

<computer-name> --> replace this with the computer name you want to bind to Active Directory
<username> --> needs to be replaced with domain administrator who has binding/unbinding rights.
<domain> --> replace with domain you want to join.

dsconfigad -a <computer-name> -u <username> -ou "CN=Computers,DC=network,DC=pcpc,DC=org" -domain <domain> -localhome enable -useuncpath enable -groups "Domain Admins,Enterprise Admins" -alldomains enable

@azwarners
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azwarners commented Sep 10, 2020 •
edited

Has anyone ever found a cause for "Node name wasn't found. (2000)" besides time difference or DNS?

I ran "net time" on our AD controller and it matches the time on my MacBook nearly to the second. It's using our network's DHCP for DNS settings.

I haven't been able to find any other reasons for this error when searching online. I had no problems binding it to the domain manually through System Preferences.

UPDATE:
Turned out to be a switch that wasn't working after all. When configuring MacBooks at work, we're supposed to check the box, "Prefer this domain server:", and then enter our organization's domain. I tried automating this by adding the -preferred switch followed by our domain, but apparently that breaks dsconfigad.

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