[There's a reason that Yoda is the unofficial mascot of SBS. Size indeed matters not.] I require assistance in setting up Active Directory Domain Services on a Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials edition - THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA
Wed, May 23 2012 23:50 bradley

I require assistance in setting up Active Directory Domain Services on a Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials edition

Dear.. person posting on oDesk with a project to "install Active Directory on SBS Essentials'

Active Directory Installation on SBS 2011 Essentials - Networking & Information Systems Jobs - oDesk:
https://www.odesk.com/jobs/~~cb9d901c17a7c6f1?source=rss

You have a domain already.  It's already installed.   If you paid even one penny to anyone to "install Active Directory" on SBS Essentials you paid one penny too much.  Now there is a domain name wizard to park the external domain, but you already named your internal domain and that box already became a domain controller during the install process.

What confuses many is that under the group policies there are no default policies.  So they think they have a box that can't support AD.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It not only already is a domain controller, it HAS to be a domain controller.

So again Mr. oDesk person, if you paid one single penny to anyone who said they installed it, you paid too much.

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# Is this always true?

Thursday, May 24, 2012 4:20 PM by Joe Raby

I'm just wondering if this is more for those "we need a server but have no IT person to go to" kind of situations.

Imagine if some decision maker (with no IT experience) thinks that SBS Essentials is the way to go, and they buy an OEM system with SBS Essentials preinstalled but without knowing what to do for the OOBE.  This might be a job position for those types of (admittedly, dumb) companies that think they can just buy an infrastructure server and just drop it in without any hassle.

Yes, yes, this is the ideal scenario for Microsoft's solution servers, but we (consultants and solution providers) know better, and there are a lot of companies out there that think they know what they need without knowing the 'why' and 'how'.

I would say this sounds like someone bought an OEM box with the software preloaded, but has no clue what to do for the OOBE, or didn't read what it was asking them, so they blindedly clicked "Next" without following the instructions.