How can I use the Windows 2000 and later Netdom command to specify an organizational unit (OU) when I join my computer to a domain?

A. If you add a computer to a domain from the Computer Name tab of the Control Panel System applet, Active Directory (AD) will place the computer in the default Computers container. However, the most recent versions of Netdom (2.0 and later) let you specify an OU when joining a computer to a domain. To specify an OU and the OU's distinguished name (DN) when using the Netdom command, type

netdom join  /domain:name> /userd: /passwordd:password> /OU:

For example,

netdom join neutron /domain:savilltech.com /userd:john 
/passwordd:youwish /OU:"OU=LONDON,DC=SAVILLTECH,DC=COM"

joins computer Neutron to domain savilltech.com in the LONDON OU. (Although I've included quotes in my example, you need to use quotes only if the OU's DN contains spaces; however, adding the quotes doesn't hurt.)

Two optional switches, /UserO and /PasswordO, are necessary only if the logged-on user doesn't have administrative rights on the computer that's joining the domain. In such a scenario, you can add these switches to specify a local administrative account to use while running the command.