Can I use Windows 8 clients with a Windows 2008 R2 Domain Controller?

Question

I'm sure I can, but are there any incompatibilities or problems to be aware of?

We have a domain controller with a few Windows 7 clients already. It is working fine.

I had the idea to install Windows 8 on a client and use it in the domain. One of my colleagues said that he had a pretty rough experience doing something similar at home. The client could not connect and authenticate wirelessly regardless of the encryption, and even when it was able to connect wired, he experienced several inconveniences (the client seemed to randomly disappear from the domain for example).

I'm searching the internet for a conclusive article on this matter, but I have yet to find either positive or negative ones?

So can I use a windows 8 client in a 2008R2 domain without any problems?

Your coworker was wrong. There are no compatibility issues with joining a Windows 8 client to a 2008 R2 domain. — MDMarra, Jul 25 '13 at 13:43

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 25 '13 at 13:35

3

I have two Win8 clients in my domain. I have 2x win2008 and 1x win2008 R2 DCs. No problems so far. The clients never dissapeared and I have no problems authenticating wireless either, although that doesn´t touch DC settings in my case.

answered Jul 25 '13 at 13:35

Jannis Alexakis

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score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 27 '13 at 02:01

Yes, absolutely.

I have two Windows 8 clients on a 2003 level domain myself with 2003 and 2008R2 DC's. The only issue I had originally (when it first came out) was updating my WSUS server so that it could receive and push updates to my Windows 8 clients. There was a patch or special install.

If that's all I've seen on 2003, 2008R2 should be easy. No weirdness or inconsistencies.

Can I use Windows 8 clients with a Windows 2008 R2 Domain Controller?

2 Answers2