Occasionally, when trying to join a Windows-based computer to a Windows Server domain, the configuration options needed are greyed out and disabled.
This can be caused by at least two things:
- the "Client for Microsoft Networks" option is disabled for the network interface.
- the "Computer Browser, "NetLogon" or "Workstation" services are not running.
I mostly see these services disabled on home computers that were used for gaming, replaced, which are then brought into a small business for a lightweight or temporary role. Disabling these services causes no issues on a standalone computer, as they are not needed, and it can increase performance slightly for gaming to eliminate the small overhead of these services.
To enable them, start the computer management console (Right click "Computer/My Computer" in the Start Menu, and select "Manage"), select Services in the left hand side tree, and find the three services listed. Check to see they're all set to auto start, and that they're currently running.