1. Check if you have admin rights

One of the primary reasons why you might be getting the error is that you don’t have proper admin rights. If you are logged in as a standard user, you don’t have the required permission to make the change.

Instead, you will need to log in using a local administrator account and then make the change. Alternatively, if you are using a work computer, you may need to request the required permissions from IT.

2. Fix the Name resolution (DNS) issues

If your PC can’t resolve the domain name to a domain controller, you won’t be able to join it. To check this, follow these steps:

• First, go to Windows Search and type CMD
• Right-click on CMD and open it as Run as Administrator
• Run the following command (make sure to update the domain name): nltest /dsgetdc:<DNS domain name> /force
• This will check if your computer can locate a domain controller for the given domain. Also, ensure that the DNS server is set to the domain controller’s IP.

3. Registry fix

Older environments at times use single-label domains or domain names without a suffix, such as CORP instead of corp.local. However, modern DNS and Windows networking are designed for multi-label FQDN domains. Plus, Windows 11 24H2 blocks single-label joins by default. To fix this, here’s what you need to do:

• Press Windows key + R to open RUN.
• Type regedit and press Enter.
• Go to the following path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters
• Right-click on the empty area, select Create > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it AllowSingleLabelDnsDomain.
• Double-click on AllowSingleLabelDnsDomain and set the value to 1.
• Restart the PC and try joining again.

4. Update Group Policy

If your system is managed by a company, domain settings may be locked down by Group Policy or Microsoft Intune. To resolve this issue, please contact the IT team or system administrator to remove the restrictions or assist you in changing the domain name.

The setting is located at Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System
> Logon > Assign a default domain for logon in the Group Policy Editor.

You can also run the command Add-Computer -DomainName "newdomain.local" -Credential (Get-Credential) -Restart in PowerShell to add a new domain as IT admin.

So, those were some basic fixes that you can try out. Apart from these, make sure you are using Windows Pro, Enterprise, or Education editions, as Windows 11 Home cannot join Active Directory domains.