Domain vs Wkgrp chngd VB app,now launch's Off.Instl

[Guest]

Background (questions are at the bottom)
========================================
I have a company laptop running Window 2000 Pro. While not really a Visual Basic programmer, I inherited support and maintenance for a small application. I was making changes and testing on the laptop at work normally. The laptop is configured for a domain here at work although I did not have the network cable connected. The actual VB development is done on a desktop machine, then the program is copied to a memory stick and installed on the laptop

I took the laptop home to continue development on my desktop PC there. Since I have a 10bT network at home, I thought I would make my life easier by connecting it, then I could transfer the install package without using a memory stick or CD. My home network is setup for a workgroup not a domain as there is no central server. I configured the laptop for workgroup instead of domain. I set the workgroup name to match the home network. When I restarted the laptop, the user name and password that I was using was no longer valid. I somewhat vaguely understand this as the user name was part of the domain not the local machine. I haven't quite figured out the details but that suffices for now

I was lucky that the Administrator (local machine I guess) had a default password. I was able to create new user accounts, etc

Now I attempted to run the VB application that had been installed before. I was not re-installing it, just running the previously installed application that had been working. When I did, it started the Microsoft Office 2000 Installer. The installer prompted that I was attempting to use a component of Office that was not installed and asked for the CD. I tried again logged in as Administrator and got the same results. I did not have the CD so I had to cancel and give up for the night

When I took the laptop back to work, I could not get it to connect back to the domain, even though I used the proper domain name, user name and password. I got the message user name or password is invalid. I had our MIS department get it reconnected to the domain. MIS renamed the computer. They said they had to rename it because the server already knows about the old name and will not allow rejoining the network with an identical name. This did not make sense to me and I had heard of someone else I know that was able to get re-joined to domain without changing the laptop name

Anyway, the domain connection was working again and so was the original user name and password. Interestingly enough, now when I ran the VB application it was able to find the Office component it was looking for and did NOT start the Office 2000 Installer

Questions
========================================
Why did the VB application cause the Office Installer to run

I realize it wanted to use some component, but why couldn't it be found in a workgroup configuration

When an application like Office is installed in a domain configuration, is the machine essentially split into virtual machines such as local machine and domain machine

Why couldn't I reconnect to the domain at work after reconfiguring correctly

Why did MIS have to change the computer name to re-join the domain

========================================
Apologize for the length of this post, but without the whole story, the questions are not as clear

Any help is appreciated

Jim

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Inline -

Background (questions are at the bottom):
=========================================
I have a company laptop running Window 2000 Pro. While not really a
Visual Basic programmer, I inherited support and maintenance for a
small application. I was making changes and testing on the laptop at
work normally. The laptop is configured for a domain here at work
although I did not have the network cable connected. The actual VB
development is done on a desktop machine, then the program is copied
to a memory stick and installed on the laptop.

I took the laptop home to continue development on my desktop PC
there. Since I have a 10bT network at home, I thought I would make my
life easier by connecting it, then I could transfer the install
package without using a memory stick or CD. My home network is setup
for a workgroup not a domain as there is no central server. I
configured the laptop for workgroup instead of domain. I set the
workgroup name to match the home network. When I restarted the
laptop, the user name and password that I was using was no longer
valid. I somewhat vaguely understand this as the user name was part
of the domain not the local machine. I haven't quite figured out the
details but that suffices for now.

Wasn't necessary - you could have logged in with cached credentials, mapped
a drive to whatever share you wanted on the home PC, providing the
appropriate local credentials.

I was lucky that the Administrator (local machine I guess) had a
default password. I was able to create new user accounts, etc.

Now I attempted to run the VB application that had been installed
before. I was not re-installing it, just running the previously
installed application that had been working. When I did, it started
the Microsoft Office 2000 Installer. The installer prompted that I
was attempting to use a component of Office that was not installed
and asked for the CD. I tried again logged in as Administrator and
got the same results. I did not have the CD so I had to cancel and
give up for the night.

When I took the laptop back to work, I could not get it to connect
back to the domain, even though I used the proper domain name, user
name and password. I got the message user name or password is
invalid. I had our MIS department get it reconnected to the domain.
MIS renamed the computer. They said they had to rename it because the
server already knows about the old name and will not allow rejoining
the network with an identical name. This did not make sense to me and
I had heard of someone else I know that was able to get re-joined to
domain without changing the laptop name.

Anyway, the domain connection was working again and so was the
original user name and password. Interestingly enough, now when I ran
the VB application it was able to find the Office component it was
looking for and did NOT start the Office 2000 Installer.

Questions:
=========================================
Why did the VB application cause the Office Installer to run?

I realize it wanted to use some component, but why couldn't it be
found in a workgroup configuration?

If the Office setup was run from a network share on your domain, it was
looking for the original source, probably. Or Office was not installed
completely and in full to run from your computer.

When an application like Office is installed in a domain
configuration, is the machine essentially split into virtual machines
such as local machine and domain machine?

? Not sure I understand, but I think the answer is no.

Why couldn't I reconnect to the domain at work after reconfiguring
correctly?

Were you trying this with an account that has domain admin rights?

Why did MIS have to change the computer name to re-join the domain?

I don't know - I haven't had to do that myself. They could've deleted the
computer account and then re-added you rather than renaming your computer if
there were problems with the computer account.