XP home can indeed connect to NT4 domain - will it connect to AD domain too?

[Mike Sampieri]

Hello. I run a 75-client Windows network with an NT4 domain. Domain
controller is also a fileserver.

Some people have laptops, and they can access the fileserver WITHOUT
joining the domain... they just type \\fileservername, then a "logon"
pops up, they type their domain account info, and they're connected to
the domain controller / fileserver for that session. This works even if
they're running XP Home Edition (which doesn't come with "join a domain"
capability)

Now I'm upgrading to Windows Server 2003... will these laptops still be
able to connect to the new AD-Controlled domain and fileserver, or,
unlike with NT4 domain, will they *need* to join the domain first?

I'm asking because for some of my users, their laptops work fine with XP
Home, provided when I upgrade the NT4 domain to a 2003 domain, they can
still authenticate without actually "joining" the domain.

Thanks for any advice!

--Mike

 

[Kurt]

Sure. It's never been any different. They just need to manually enter a
valid domain username and password whenever they access a file share and
everytime they connect to a printer. This is a pain, but it gets it done.
What they can't do is be assigned things like logon scripts, group policies,
OU membership, etc that make administration of a network manageable.

....kurt

Hello. I run a 75-client Windows network with an NT4 domain. Domain
controller is also a fileserver.

Some people have laptops, and they can access the fileserver WITHOUT
joining the domain... they just type \\fileservername, then a "logon"
pops up, they type their domain account info, and they're connected to
the domain controller / fileserver for that session. This works even if
they're running XP Home Edition (which doesn't come with "join a domain"
capability)

Now I'm upgrading to Windows Server 2003... will these laptops still be
able to connect to the new AD-Controlled domain and fileserver, or,
unlike with NT4 domain, will they *need* to join the domain first?

I'm asking because for some of my users, their laptops work fine with XP
Home, provided when I upgrade the NT4 domain to a 2003 domain, they can
still authenticate without actually "joining" the domain.

Thanks for any advice!

--Mike