ACTIVE DIRECTORY #00 Creating our Server + Workstation Virtual Environment

[@UKvideos2009]

Please don't apologise for it being 'boring' or whatever. This is exactly the stepping stone I needed to get practically into more of your content. Looking forward to this series!

[@curtiss5982]

Dude even a simple task as installing and setting up a VM is a learning experience in a John Hammond video

[@KevtechITSupport]

Active directory, my favorite. For IT Support all you care about is password reset, account creation, unlocking accounts disabling accounts, security groups and distribution groups depending on your level of access and company.

[@runemonkey58]

This is the most aptly timed video series ever. I literally just got into a situation where I need to build out a windows server test environment to build some skills.

[@Bjon10]

The thing I like the most about your videos is that I come to learn something and I end up learning a lot more than I anticipated, watching troubleshoot live and such is really entertaining and interesting for me. Can't wait to see how this series unfolds. Thank you John!

[@ayushmanthapa_onion]

I started my internship a few months ago as a network penetration tester. One thing I realized during that period is that there always something more to learn, even if u think you know it well. Thanks John for sharing your knowledge so we can learn

[@pwerd]

This is exactly the content we need John. Running into issues and troubleshooting weird things like the TPM with the Windows 11 VM bogs down our progress. Seeing how you tackle similar issues is super helpful!

[@austinchandler2629]

thx for taking time to go through the "boring" processes too! Some channels seem to just skip that stuff. Oh and also, should've made your username Nighthawk. Nighthawk sounds cool af.

[@lfcbpro]

I can't be the only one who thinks listening to John is relaxing along with very educational, you ever get stressed, throw a John vid on and you calm and learn :D

[@justinshort4786]

Thanks for going through the entire process and showing your own troubles. I am self-taught; the topics I have never forgotten and breeze through are the things I had to beat my head across the keyboard to complete. The nuances of virtual machines and creating realistic labs have at times seemed impossible, your videos are great because you don't leave important content to the imagination. Thanks for not trying to edit yourself into looking perfect... you are already the most talented and humble security guru I know. Hope to see these videos for years to come.

[@ssfdf7751]

I am relatively new to active directory and powershell empire and I am preparing for OSCP, this just came at the right time !

[@plushplush7635]

main thing with AD attacks is to get a username (sometimes you will need username + hash or pass) when you get it, network is almost yours

[@ssfdf7751]

@@plushplush7635 thanks for the note !

[@FindAllHere]

Please do more!!!!

[@nsxtogo6044]

This is an absolute important 1st steps that I personnaly appreciate, it's not boring at all. Thank you very much.

[@amiteshel1799]

Hey John, thank you, I just started my internship at Snyk! Don't know if I coulda done that without you, so thank you!

[@gameswithblues8655]

Congratulations, man!!!

[@rivalshawns]

For VirtualBox, I also added a "BypassUEFICheck" to get Windows 11 to work. I originally tried checking "Enable EFI (special OSes only)", but it went into an endless boot cycle after it installed. There was probably a workaround for doing it that way, but oh well.

[@DrkWng17]

Not boring at all, very informative.

[@candaceleach2981]

Haven't worked with Active Directory for a long time. Thanks for the refresher 😀

[@SpyToLie]

Not boring at all John, Just please keep up with the consistency :).

[@Zeemeegaming]

I use Active Directory every day and work and never really learned what all goes on in the background. I think I'll give this a shot! thanks for the video!

[@bebop_10]

Please continue this series! You explain things so clearly and I love watching these videos. Especially the “boring” stuff, it’s all great!! Thank u

[@guruhariroxz]

Oh my john! I was waiting for AD series of yours for days and months and. Now it's here. Thank you. This might help me to prep for PNPT and CRTP

[@hackwithprogramming7849]

same bro

[@darhdaz1]

Thanks John! I've been wanting to set up my own AD for ages! Thanks for the videos!

[@enpassant7358]

This should be helpful, I started the Udemy course on Active Diectory and the Microsoft Learn unit this morning. I've used Linux exclusively for so long I hardly know anything about Microsoft anymore. Just by coincidence a John Hammond video pops up on that very topic? Spooky! lol

[@aaronwhite1786]

It's super interesting what all you can do with AD, even as someone who didn't get super deep into the AD side of things in my years as a system admin. I did a lot of surface level work, and that alone was still awesome. Now that I'm learning the security side, the number of vulnerabilities and exploits that are open through things that are pretty common misconfigurations, or like in the case of IPv6, just on by default. Good luck on the learning!

[@ianberdahl108]

Yes, this was just happening to me. I was having a Kerberos error and this man shows up. Ima need my phone to stop listening to me. Lol

[@indojojon892]

hey can you share the course youre taking? IM interested in learning about AD too.

[@enpassant7358]

Microsoft Learn has some good learning resources.

[@mossdem]

Been around here for a little while now and I thought I'd just say a big thank you! I recently secured a new job as an IT Admin. Its only a stepping stone for some experience but its thanks to a lot of your videos that I managed to get there. Just thought the feedback would be nice to hear on your end. Keep making great content, it goes a long way man

[@Susie_security]

Thanks for a great walk-through video, John. I found you through Chuck’s channel and look forward to learning more from you both. It was great to have a reminder of what to do and some of the challenges when setting up VMs. Great tips as well :)

[@reynaldo7371]

I've been wondering what Active Directory is. Always forgets to look it up. Glad ur video came out talking about it.

[@k3nundrum]

I always learn stuff from you man….even on the most basic of topics. All the wasted hours…was clueless to that template cloning feature in VMWare. Great content as always Mr. H!

[@AdHdEntertainmentLLC]

I actually appreciate this walk through. Always good for a refresher!!

[@itsnee]

I literally just built my lab too! thanks for the vid john!

[@CybrJames]

Great video, John. I am working my way through the videos. Love your content.

[@TheHaircutFish]

I was getting an error on the server but will be looking into the issue. Thank you for these videos!!!!

[@sysghost8828]

its not booring its really cool thq for these type on content lots of love

[@lout9231]

I've been looking into this lately and was actually googling how to set up an AD lab since I've had more and more exposure to it through help desk/work. As someone new to cyber and trying to get more into the industry this couldn't have come at a better time!

[@T1ppyTaps]

Please keep doing videos like this. It helps a lot. Thank you.

[@Trendnet18]

@John - There's an easier method. Go to Options => Access Control => Encrypt Drive , Then add TMP in the hardware tab.

[@kyojin8223]

very interesting in your PC details, it works so fast...

[@dropcake]

Awesome video John - I was looking to build out my own environment. Thanks!

[@zvoltejinylogin]

finally AD stuff, subscribed. Keep em coming. if you are on a budget you can use Hyper-V inside Windows 10 feature only requires turning ON, versions supported PRO, EDU, ENTR.

[@jpcodes1344]

This is exactly what we needed! Virtual labs with John! Super excited for the rest of the series

[@WizardKing24]

Active Directory, love this topic! I am very curious how this series continues 😍

[@mrgeebee1622]

Great video. You can add a TPM module in VMWare if you encrypt the disk.

[@arghyl]

Great video John! I definitely appreciate this content. Also the short debug to get things going. It really showcases your awesome abilities. Thank you!!

[@TheH2OWeb]

Really cool ! Let's see some Windows stuff ! I don't know much about it so thank you John !!

[@vampyweekies]

"...incase you ever refer back to it later which... you probably will" hit different as I was refering back to this later

[@devonburelle400]

Awesome Video! I have a windows server class this semester so ill be a few steps ahead!

[@metrixc]

That’s great. Thank you John. Always helpful content! 🙏

[@plushplush7635]

I didnt know that little trick with clone and snapshot, that's cool, I sweat a little bit with bypass but finally succeed, thanks

[@mikelincoln8395]

Great, just found this. Just what I’ve been looking for

[@jorgevilla6523]

Ready for all the series!!

[@sandra8139]

Thanks John I can try to get to into it but I see I will thank the help knowledge is good

[@Sabyas_Hub]

Great video John.I will be joining you soon.

[@jiyuhen]

And out of the wild you saved my day! 🙂

[@chucksgarage-us]

I'm adding "Twinker" to my vocabulary

[@samararisha9116]

hello what topics do i need before moving to Active directory

[@jeandelamarquise]

we need more of this series !!

[@samararisha9116]

hello what topics do i need before moving to Active directory

[@TheDuerden]

I went to all the trouble of setting this up John, I do hope that there is a follow-up video on why we did this!!

[@aaronwhite1786]

This looks like it'll be helpful! I really need to automate the process of my lab build (From GPO's to user/machine creation) because the number of times I mess something up and then go "Ugh, I need to redo all of this" is too damn high.

[@janbielecki9245]

PC looks like a beast, NASA class

[@vortual_]

For the TPM you could of downloaded the Windows 11 for VMWare. They have a download for VM's.

[@sic4ri075]

Love it!! Thanks John 🙌👑

[@brysonnichols1198]

Super helpful; thanks!! Subscribed.

[@ceesinieks]

Man has never heard of hydration kit, nice video for a more manual approach tho

[@bawalicoder1233]

Hey John!! You should make a new setup tour video...love your videos btw💖

[@cyber-man]

i suggest having different light setup, when u make a direct shot on ur face, monitor light really covers ur one eye

[@nitinmaurya6835]

I don't need to set speed to 2x in your videos :D Anyway always amazing content.

[@pietstreet8311]

Hmm... won't you get into Trouble because all of the cloned VMs will have the same machine SID? Will you do a sysprep on the clones?

[@dmoepurp8378]

This makes me happy!!!!!! 😀😀😀😀

[@overgrowncarrot1]

John windows 11 has vms already made by Microsoft. So you can just download the vm for the virtual environment you are using. I know it works great with virtualbox

[@itsnotwebby]

I gotta know where you got that t-shirt. I love it, and definitely wanna buy one. Please?

[@hackwithprogramming7849]

snyk will take our furture job

[@Ufphen]

"...turning off every semblance of Cortana." Just as god intended.

[@zdzisawdyrma3319]

After creating a new virtual machine, go into settings -> options -> Access Control (create password). Now go to the tab (Hardware) and add the TPM module. :)

[@PoringPoring951]

Is this VMWare Workstation procedure only?

[@zdzisawdyrma3319]

@@PoringPoring951 After creating a new virtual machine, go into settings -> options -> Access Control (create password). Now go to the tab (Hardware) and add the TPM module. :)

[@Qaatloz]

just a FYI. The domain controller John made is really over provisioned. For our smaller clients with about 100 users and 150 computer objects in the environment we get away with 2 vcpu and 4 GB ram and 50 GB disk in a server core install. if you want a gui then i would suggest a 8 gb install. And of course: create at least 2 domain controllers in a production environment.

[@thegeekguy8840]

For core server 25 30GB is enough with ADDS, including extra drive for Active Directory. The best way for redundancy and higher resources we should look to scale it horizontaly instead verticaly, create more machines for the same task, instead increasing the resources of a single machine. If you have a single file server with 1tb disk 8gb ram and 4cpus, if you have a downtime on a file server it could be bad for the ORG, if you split the file servers with DFS, 2 VMs with 500gb disk 4gb ram and 2cpus is better, still have a downtime for some people but not for the entire company. And now if you have 4 file servers 2 of them being a copy from the other 2 that we have split, the downtime is minimal, here we waste some resources, but redundancy is good.

[@Safragium]

hey, you can add TPM into VM's devices config, that saves alot of time

[@SESUAV]

The amount of memory john gave to a single virtual machine is the total what I have 😂 How am I supposed to make an AD lab now 🤧.

[@tvathome562]

Thanks for teaching the basics, and taking the time to explain in simple terms what you are doing. What desktop are you running your vm's on as last time I saw your set up it was a dell xps 15 laptop?

[@ericsanders195]

Thanks

[@Akuma321123]

more of these please!

[@purpleman173]

For learning Active Directory/Azure Active Directory what Resources would you recommended?

[@LoayMatar]

Can you tell us or a do a video about your computer since it seems to be very powerful?

[@larserikpedersen]

Hi! Maybe you should've sysprepped the image before converting it to a template?

[@ironmanlegion3590]

Very good. Learning new things :)

[@rationalbushcraft]

I wonder why you don't have an ESXi server? Maybe because I have been doing ESX since ver 3 and am a VCP so maybe that is just easier for me. But I like running my home lab on a separate machine if nothing more than I have it on cheap mechanical drives and not expensive SSD that is on my notebook. I even have my Kali attack machine on ESXi. You can even get the community version of Veeam for backup of the VMs so you can backup your non disposable VMs. As I think about it you can pretty much do everything you need to on vmware workstation including isolating the VM for doing things like malware analysis. So maybe it is just a preference I have.

[@leandromiano3190]

Hello John , Could you please share which Windows 1 Version are you using? When i configurate my VM Win 11 It asks for COmputer name on my vm, when in your configuration there is not this step. Also when i tart the new PS session i receive an error Access Denied. And i think this could be linked. Thank you for your help! Amazing Channel!

[@Simon-v4q]

Following along, and the password change for server caught me out. You need to use 'down' to move to the confirm prompt, not 'enter'.

[@ダレモコーン-q2l]

Thank you for sharing. I have one question. You are creating many virtual machines, what are the specs of the base machine?

[@gokupwn]

🔥🔥

[@disordely]

great content as always

[@KaatibAcademy]

Thank you @John, can you please share us where we can get the ISOs

[@LESLEYYY0]

You can just add a TPM module in VMWare and it'll work

[@ShelterG]

To take a snapshot do I need to buy a VMware workstation pro? Or any alternatives?

[@kweebtech7614]

What would be the best alternative to VMware Pro? I know VirtualBox is popular but is there something you would recommend?

[@shaynewilke3995]

I downloaded a Win11 iso from the Microsoft website and I was wondering what version is needed? Can I use home and try to link it to the DC?

[@shootingkiller9109]

Hey John. Nice Video But why can't you use docker on windows instead of spinning two virtual machine.

[@_JohnHammond]

Active Directory services will not work within a Docker container, as far as I know.

[@shootingkiller9109]

@@_JohnHammond ohh i didn't know that. Thanks for replying 😃

[@SecurityTalent]

Great

[@kiritusama3869]

is it okay to use windows 10 along with windows server 2012 ??

[@prabinsigdel7538]

hello "join domain " is not available now ?

[@__.requiem.___]

Great video. But curious, are you learning French? You said "demain" earlier in the vid. Lol.

[@mdasadansari3295]

Not mine bypassed like you did in this video I done same process but when I reboot it it get same error if you say don't reboot it than I am not getting any option after regedit changes

[@murlocdeathknight9576]

Any specific reason to install Win11 besides it being latest? I've proceeded with 10 but will make another win11 vm, just wondering!

[@seyu8666]

Can I do this setup on aws instead?