cannot add an XP Pro PC to a Domain

[Margie]

I've searched all of Microsoft and cannot find an answer.
My network was entirely a windows 2000 pro nework. I've
recently purchased several XP Pro PC's.
I cannot add the XP pro SP 1 PC's to my domain. Every time
I try to add one of the XP machines, I get the following
message, "A domain controller for the domain <domain name>
could not be contacted". But the PC is being assigned the
an IP address and the gateway from the server. The only
way I can get to shared resources is by mapping a drive
using the IP address of the server and the shared name.
The PC gets to the internet fine. I ran ipconfig /all from
a command prompt on the XP machine and the results were
all correct except for the Primary Dns Suffix is blank.
One final note, I cannot browse the network either. If
anyone has any ideas please let me know.
Thank you.

 

[Ron Lowe]

I've searched all of Microsoft and cannot find an answer.
My network was entirely a windows 2000 pro nework. I've
recently purchased several XP Pro PC's.
I cannot add the XP pro SP 1 PC's to my domain. Every time
I try to add one of the XP machines, I get the following
message, "A domain controller for the domain <domain name>
could not be contacted". But the PC is being assigned the
an IP address and the gateway from the server. The only
way I can get to shared resources is by mapping a drive
using the IP address of the server and the shared name.
The PC gets to the internet fine. I ran ipconfig /all from
a command prompt on the XP machine and the results were
all correct except for the Primary Dns Suffix is blank.
One final note, I cannot browse the network either. If
anyone has any ideas please let me know.
Thank you.

An inability to contact the Domain Controller usually
indicates a DNS misconfiguration.

You must point the clients to the local DNS server which hosts the domain's
DNS records.
That may well be the Domain Controller machine itself.

Here's my usual diatribe on the topic:

XP differs from previous versions of windows in that it uses
DNS as it's primary name resolution method for finding domain
controllers:

How Domain Controllers Are Located in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314861

If DNS is misconfigured, XP will spend a lot of time waiting for it to
timeout before it tries using legacy NT4 sytle NetBIOS.
( Which may or may not work. )

1) Ensure that the XP clients are all configured to point to the local
DNS server which hosts the AD domain. That will probably be the
win2k server itself.
They should NOT be pointing an an ISP's DNS server.
An 'ipconfig /all' on the XP box should reveal ONLY the domain's
DNS server.

( you should use the DHCP server to push out the local DNS server
address. )

2) Ensure DNS server on win2k is configured to permit dynamic updates.

3) Ensure the win2k server points to itself as a DNS server.

4) For external ( internet ) name resolution, specify your ISP's DNS server
not on the clients, but in the 'forwarders' tab of the local win2k DNS
server.

On the DNS server, if you cannot access the 'Forwarders' and 'Root Hints'
tabs because they are greyed out, that is because there is a root zone (".")
present on the DNS server. You MUST delete this root zone to permit the
server to forward unresolved queries to yout ISP or the root servers:

HOWTO: Remove the Root Zone (Dot Zone)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=298148

The following articles may assist you in setting up DNS correctly:

Setting Up the Domain Name System for Active Directory
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;237675
HOW TO: Configure DNS for Internet Access in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;300202

 

[Jetro]

Ensure NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled on Xp in Network Connection
Properties/Tcp/IP Properties/Advanced/WINS.

 

[Margie]

Thank you for your replies.
I had setup DNS quite a while ago. But I double checked
everything again to make sure I didn't miss anything when
I originally setup DNS. My DNS was correctly configured.
But while reading the articles that were recommended to me
and an article on XP networking I realized XP wants the
fully qualified object domain name <domain-name.local>. So
I tried adding the computer to the network again with the
domain-name.local and it worked! Then I changed the
setting under WINS from default to use NetBios over
TCP/IP, I can now browse the entire network. This has been
so frustrating but I've learned so much while
troubleshooting this.
Thanks so much for your help.