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It appears that for a 2012 Foundation server to be joined to a domain, it needs to be a DC at the forest root.<br />
See:<br />
<a href="https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/JJ679892.aspx" rel="ugc">https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/JJ679892.aspx</a>
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It appears that for a 2012 Foundation server to be joined to a domain, it needs to be a DC at the forest root.
See:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/JJ679892.aspx [https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/JJ679892.aspx]

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Thanks, Ninja. I remember reading something about the ability to upgrade Foundation awhile back, but either I'm mis-remembering or what I read was incorrect. I think the answer is to just leave it out of the domain. I don't think it will negatively impact anything to do that.
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Thanks, Ninja. I remember reading something about the ability to upgrade Foundation awhile back, but either I'm mis-remembering or what I read was incorrect. I think the answer is to just leave it out of the domain. I don't think it will negatively impact anything to do that.

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I have a client with eight users and a single Windows 2012 Foundation server which is not acting as a DC. There's no current domain. The server is used as a fax-server, and the third-party software installed on it requires that it not be a DC. The client is interested in adding a Windows 2012 Standard server to the environment to act as a DC among other things. My question is, can the Foundation server be a member server in the new domain or will I need to upgrade it to Standard when I introduce the DC? I can't find a clear answer on this. Thanks in advance.
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I have a client with eight users and a single Windows 2012 Foundation server which is not acting as a DC. There's no current domain. The server is used as a fax-server, and the third-party software installed on it requires that it not be a DC. The client is interested in adding a Windows 2012 Standard server to the environment to act as a DC among other things. My question is, can the Foundation server be a member server in the new domain or will I need to upgrade it to Standard when I introduce the DC? I can't find a clear answer on this. Thanks in advance.

Can I Add a Windows Server 2012 Standard DC to an Environment with a Windows Server 2012 Foundation Non-DC

Windows Server 2012 is the server version of Windows 8 and the successor to Windows Server 2008 R2. Windows Server 2012 is the first version of Windows Server to have no support for Itanium-based computers since Windows NT 4.0. Windows Server 2012, now in its second release (Windows Server 2012 Release 2) includes Foundation, Essentials, Standard and Datacenter, and does not support IA-32 or IA-64 processors.