A hands-on Active Directory home lab built on Microsoft Azure — designed to simulate real-world IT and help desk environments.
🎥 Watch the full setup walkthrough here
I built this lab to get real hands-on experience with Active Directory the tool that pretty much every IT and help desk role uses daily. Instead of just reading about it, I set the whole thing up myself from scratch using Microsoft Azure.
- Deployed a Windows Server 2022 VM on Microsoft Azure
- Installed** Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) and DNS Server
- Promoted the server to a Domain Controller
- Created a domain called
nymurcompany.local - Set up Organizational Units (OUs) for IT, HR, Finance, and Management departments
- Created user accounts for each department
- Configured a** Group Policy Object (GPO) to enforce password rules
- Deployed a second VM (CLIENT-01) and joined it to the domain
- Logged into the client machine using a domain user account
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Azure | Cloud hosting for VMs |
| Windows Server 2022 | Operating system for the Domain Controller |
| Active Directory Domain Services | Core directory service |
| DNS Server | Name resolution for the domain |
| Group Policy Management | Enforcing policies across the domain |
| Microsoft Remote Desktop | Connecting to VMs from Mac |
| PowerShell | Joining the client to the domain |
These are tasks I went through hands-on in this lab:
- Resetting a user's password
- Disabling a user account (when someone leaves the company)
- Unlocking a locked account
- Creating security groups
- Creating and linking Group Policy Objects
- Joining a computer to the domain
For detailed step-by-step instructions on the Azure setup I followed, refer to the AD Lab Setup Process PDF.