can't change xpmediacenter from domain to workgroup?

[geekyguy]

Hi All:

I have an XP Media Center box that I had successfully joined to my 2003
domain for about a year. The sole DC for that domain went FUBAR and I did a
fresh install of server2008 on that box. About a week later, I logged onto
the XP box (at this point it is running sp3) as Administrator and tried to
do a standard "change to workgroup, reboot, join new domain".

When I change the radio button from "domain" to "workgroup" and assign a
workgroup name, when I click OK a window pops up with the error message:

domain controller for the old domain could not be contacted

and my only option is to "OK" or "Cancel". If I press "OK" the same error
pops up, and if I click "cancel" I'm returned to the domain/workgroup
window. There's no way to bypass this error and drop from the domain. I'm
not prompted to enter credentials at any point to bypass the message.

This is a screencap of both windows:

http://www.my508.com/images/desktop.gif

I'm ready to just wipe/reinstall at this point, unless someone has a
suggestion?

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Hi All:

I have an XP Media Center box that I had successfully joined to my
2003 domain for about a year. The sole DC for that domain went FUBAR
and I did a fresh install of server2008 on that box. About a week
later, I logged onto the XP box (at this point it is running sp3) as
Administrator and tried to do a standard "change to workgroup,
reboot, join new domain".
When I change the radio button from "domain" to "workgroup" and
assign a workgroup name, when I click OK a window pops up with the
error message:
domain controller for the old domain could not be contacted

and my only option is to "OK" or "Cancel". If I press "OK" the same
error pops up, and if I click "cancel" I'm returned to the
domain/workgroup window. There's no way to bypass this error and drop
from the domain. I'm not prompted to enter credentials at any point
to bypass the message.
This is a screencap of both windows:

http://www.my508.com/images/desktop.gif

I'm ready to just wipe/reinstall at this point, unless someone has a
suggestion?

I've never tried to go in this direction, but the "banana" hack is entirely
unsupported, so it isn't all that surprising that you're having problems,
really. What about undoing the banana hack ? Worth a shot.

 

[geekyguy]

That's hysterical...I'd never heard of the banana hack before now...what's
interesting is that I never had a problem joining the domain with MCE...it
very happily accepted to the credentials.

This is also on a very low-end barebones MSI box which does, however, have
an Intel GBit Lan chip on-board...maybe the LAN driver supported it so
joining wasn't a problem?

My question is, if I didn't modify the registry to allow joining the domain,
is there any way to "un-join" at this point? Or should I just install XP
pro?


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

That's hysterical...I'd never heard of the banana hack before
now...what's interesting is that I never had a problem joining the
domain with MCE...it very happily accepted to the credentials.

That's very bizarre, as MCE does not support domains. It was crippled to
prevent it!

This is also on a very low-end barebones MSI box which does, however,
have an Intel GBit Lan chip on-board...maybe the LAN driver supported
it so joining wasn't a problem?

It's the OS.

My question is, if I didn't modify the registry to allow joining the
domain, is there any way to "un-join" at this point? Or should I just
install XP pro?

Take a look at the registry to check for remnants of the banana hack. If you
can't find any joy there, I'd probably just install XP Pro cleanly. I'm
impatient.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

I've never tried to go in this direction, but the "banana" hack is
entirely unsupported, so it isn't all that surprising that you're
having problems, really. What about undoing the banana hack ? Worth
a shot.