|  | Planning an Installation of Microsoft Windows XP Professional Deciding on a Workgroup or Domain Installation
Joining a Domain In a domain, each computer has a computer account. When a computer joins a domain, the appropriate user and computer accounts must exist. Before you can add a computer to a domain: The person performing the installation must have a user account in Active Directory. This account does not need to be the domain Administrator account. - and - The computer must have an existing computer account in the Active Directory database of the domain that the computer is joining, and the computer must be named exactly as its domain account is named. - or - The person performing the installation must have appropriate permission to create a domain account for the computer during installation.
| Note: All users with user accounts in Active Directory can create up to ten domain computer accounts without having additional permissions.