She opened the Start menu and typed “Active Directory” — nothing useful appeared. A moment of panic set in.
Sarah had just started her new IT support role at a mid-sized company. On her first day, her manager asked her to check if a user account was locked in . Sarah’s work laptop ran Windows 11 , and she had no idea where to start.
Then she remembered: Active Directory isn’t an app you install by default on Windows 11. It’s a management console that you access only if your computer is joined to a domain and you have the right tools.