Windows 10 Enterprise domain join options

This content is 9 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

When running Windows 10 setup from enterprise media, one of the options presented is to choose how you’ll connect Windows to your organisation.

Join Azure AD
Join a domain

You might ask, “where’s the option to just continue as normal and stay in a workgroup?” (as a non-domain-joined PC) but the explanatory text helps:

Join Azure AD if your organisation uses Office 365 or other business services from Microsoft.
If you plan to join the PC to a domain, a local account is created and then you can join a domain as in previous Windows OSes once setup is complete.

The “join a domain” option doesn’t actually join a domain at all – indeed, once you’ve elected to join a domain you can switch to signing in with a Microsoft account (and gain the benefits of settings being synchronised between PCs) as well as adding a workplace or school account (signing in to Office 365, for example), changing sign-in options, joining/leaving a domain and/or joining/leaving Azure AD (for administrators to manage the PC in line with policy).

Windows 10 - Accounts - Your Accounts