PSCreateADForest

PSCreateADForest is a PowerShell module designed to quickly create new Active Directory forests and domain controllers. It's ideal for disaster recovery, setting up AD from scratch, or creating test and development environments efficiently, allowing for rapid deployment and teardown without starting from scratch.

Prerequisites

• Operating System:
  • Windows Server (not Windows Desktop)
  • The server must NOT be a domain controller, or joined to a Windows domain.
• PowerShell:
  • PowerShell 5.1 or later installed on the server.
• Permissions:
  • Administrative privileges on the server.
• Basic Knowledge:
  • Familiarity with PowerShell.
  • Understanding of Active Directory concepts.

Installation

There are 3 ways to install the PSCreateADForest repository:

1. Direct Repository Sources:

   • Clone this repository using Git or download the ZIP file.
   • Extract the contents of the ZIP file to a directory on your Windows Server.
   • Open PowerShell as an administrator and navigate to the directory where you extracted the repo files.
   • Import the module manually:

   Import-Mopdule "C:\Path\To\PSCreateADForest.psm1"

2. Download Official Releases from GitHub:

   • Navigate to the latest release on Github by clicking on Releases (or by clicking here).
   • Extract the contents of the ZIP file to a directory on your Windows Server.
   • Open PowerShell as an administrator and navigate to the directory where you extracted the repo files.
   • Import the module manually:

   Import-Mopdule "C:\Path\To\PSCreateADForest.psm1"

3. Installing Directly from Powershell Gallery:

   • Open a PowerShell Terminal and install the module:

   Install-Module -Name PSCreateADForest

   • Import the module for usage:

   Import-Module -Name PSCreateADForest

Usage

Examples

Creating a New Active Directory Forest

This example shows how to set up a NEW Active Directory Forest and a new Domain Controller. Before starting this process, the new Domain Controller must not be actively joined to an existing Active Directory domain.

Invoke-DomainControllerNetworkSettings -Hostname "DC1" -IPv4Address "192.168.1.10" -IPv4Prefix 24 -IPv4Gateway "192.168.1.1" -IPv4DNS "8.8.8.8"
Restart-Computer -Force

In the first step, we are setting the new hostname of this server instance. However, if the server is already set to the desired hostname, supply the current hostname of the device. The IPv4Address MUST be an IP address that is currently NOT in use. This will be the NEW IP address of the server going forward.

After the first reboot, creating the new Domain Controller and setting up the forest is now possible.

Install-NewAdForestAndPromote -DomainName "example.com" -NetBiosName "EXAMPLE" -Mode "Win2012"
Restart-Computer -Force

Reboot after this action has completed and the Domain Controller will now be configured and ready to use.

Adding a New Domain Controller in an Existing Forest

This example demonstrates how to add additional domain controllers to the newly created Active Directory forest that was created in Example 1.

Before starting, the new server must be added to the domain. Firstly, we will apply network settings for the domain controller. This time we will set the DNS Server to IP of the first domain controller we created.

Invoke-DomainControllerNetworkSettings -Hostname "DC2" -IPv4Address "192.168.1.11" -IPv4Prefix 24 -IPv4Gateway "192.168.1.1" -IPv4DNS "192.168.1.10"
Restart-Computer -Force

Now that the network settings have been set on this machine, the machine can now be added to the domain. Unfortunately, this is Windows and a reboot is required after this action.

Add-Computer -DomainName example.com -Credential example.com\Administrator
Restart-Computer -Force

Once this reboot is complete, add the new domain controller and reboot.

Add-NewDomainController
Restart-Computer -Force

License

Free Custom License (FCL) v1.0

Copyright 2025, Michael Free. All Rights Reserved.

Contributions

Reporting Bugs

If you encounter any issues while using the tool, please report them in the issue tracker on GitHub. Be sure to include the following information in your bug report:

• The steps to reproduce the issue
• The expected behavior
• The actual behavior
• Any error messages or stack traces associated with the issue

Requesting Features

If you have an idea for a new feature, please let me know by creating an issue in the issue tracker on GitHub. Be sure to explain why this feature would be useful and how it could benefit the project.

Contributing Code

If you're a developer interested in contributing code to the project, I encourage you to submit a pull request through GitHub. Before submitting your code, please make sure it adheres to my coding standards and passes any automated tests.

Providing Feedback

Your feedback is valuable to me. If you have any suggestions or ideas for improving the tool, please share them with me through the issue tracker on GitHub or by reaching out to me on Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@MichaelFree

Testing and Quality Assurance

I appreciate any help testing the project and reporting issues. If you have experience in testing, please let me know by creating an issue in the issue tracker on GitHub or by contacting me directly.

Thank you for your interest in contributing to my project! Your contributions will help make it even better.