Here are my "public notes" for how to install Windows properly on University of Wisconsin--Madison machines.
Create a Ventoy USB Drive.
Download Windows 11 ISO and add to Ventoy. Note you want Windows 11 Pro.
Assuming you are overwriting an existing Windows machine, you probably need to bypass fast start up to access the boot menu and/or BIOS. The first step is to boot into Windows "Troubleshoot" mode. On Windows 10, this can be done through "Advanced Startup" > "Restart Now".
In the Windows Troubleshoot Menu, "Troubleshoot" > "Advanced" > "Advanced". This should get you into the boot manager so you can boot from Ventoy. You might need to modify the BIOS settings to allow booting from the USB stick, that all depends on the machine.
Once you boot the Windows Installer, remove all the existing partitions. Give the machine a name like "CHEM-WK-624A", where "WK" means workstation and "624A" can be anything you want. Create a local account called "comphelp" with a temporary password you can remember. By naming your account "comphelp" the Active Directory rules will clobber your password, which is convinient. Finish the install process and reboot into Windows 11.
Comphelp has created a special account which only has the permission to force machines onto Active Directory. This is a safe action, so the account credentials are fine to share publically.
Open Powershell as Admin. Create the credential object:
PS C:\Users\comphelp> $credential = Get-Credential
Enter in the special account credentials:
AD\svc-djoin-chem
XsZLaQLC/g,y_Y7V@C[f
Now, add the computer to AD:
Add-Computer -DomainName ad.wisc.edu -OUPath "OU=Computers,OU=CHEM,OU=orgUnits,DC=ad,DC=wisc,DC=edu" -Restart -Credential $credential
Email comphelp@chem.wisc.edu with the name of the computer and ask for Admin permissions. They will be able to allow this in the domain controller.
Once you have rights, you have to run the "Make Me Admin" application to actually elevate permissions.
built 2025-07-01 18:00:23