How to make a Windows machine join a Domain

Although I think of my blog as primarily a place for my research thoughts and meanderings, lately I noticed I've mostly been posting about technical hurdles I have overcome.  Guesswhat, here's another one!  ;) With added bonus of some life reflection mixed in.

Say you have a Windows machine on a network, (such as a campus, like, I don't know, say the University of Saskatchewan), and you want your machine to be part of the USASK domain, but it isn't.  Here's what you do.

0.  Your user may need to be granted permissions to add new machines to the domain.  In addition, your machine may also have to be "pre-added" to the domain so it goes to the right spot when it joins.  So, before going any further, you should contact your Active Directory administrator to make sure they are expecting you & your machine to be added.
1.  Right-click on My Computer, choose Properties
2. Look for the heading "Computer name, domain and workgroup settings".  In here there should be a link that reads "Change settings", click that.
3.  Near the bottom, there's a button that reads "Change", with the label, "To rname the computer or change its domain or workgroup, click Change."
4.  Look at the "Computer name".  Is that what you want your machine to be known as on the network?  If not, change it and then restart your computer.  (if it's a server, have fun organizing downtime!)
5.  Beneath that, it says "Member of" Domain or Workgroup.  Change the domain to be "usask.ca" and restart again.
6.  Type in your username and password to confirm adding the machine to the domain.  Possibly restart again.  Restarting again might be a good idea anyway, because after you have joined a domain, your machine may inherit new policies it never had before.
7.  If something doesn't work anymore, then review the new policies.  In my case, some of the policies shut down some ports I needed open on the firewall, so I had to re-open them.

Why did I bother to type out these simple and obvious steps?  Well, 20 years ago I might have thought it would be unnecessary, because the computer is just so obvious there's no need for directions. right?  (I actually believe this in many cases.)  However, in my life, I have learned that "obvious" is relative.  Of course it's obvious to a young kid who doesn't have any experience with anything EXCEPT Windows, and they are totally familliar with it, there's like no other option of where it could be!   But, operating systems change.  Windows 95 turns into 98 and then XP and then you have a kid and fall of the face of the technical world for a number of years, and maybe you switch and re-learn everything on Mac or Linux, and then you come back and you get all rusty, and, and,  ....

well, sometimes it is just nice to have the friggin' directions in front of you.  It is NOT obvious to people who come from a different universe.  And believe me, life has a way of pushing you into different universes.