Using adprep.exe to prepare for new Active Directory functionality

The Active Directory schema defines the way that objects can be created, and what attributes are required or are optional for these objects. With previous versions of Windows Server, the base schema has been improved and extended.

Many features require certain schema versions for Active Directory. For instance, when you want to deploy a Windows Server 2016-based Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) farm, you'll need the Windows Server 2016 schema or a higher version of the schema.

Since Windows Server 2012, Microsoft updates the Active Directory schema automatically when you promote the first Windows Server 2012-based member server to an Active Directory domain controller.

However, consider what will happen if you want to do any of the following:

• Update the Active Directory schema only, because your organization doesn't want domain controllers running the latest version.
• Delegate...