Cant find PDC

  • Thread starter Thread starter John
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J

John

We are using a tool called cusrmgr.exe to add a domain
local group to the local sam of a w2k workstation via
group policy start up scripts, however recently this has
been erroring with "cant find pdc for <domain>".

Can anyone help point me in the right direction please?
 
John said:
We are using a tool called cusrmgr.exe to add a domain
local group to the local sam of a w2k workstation via
group policy start up scripts,
Click to expand...

This will not work unless you are in (at least) Native mode
for the domain. (But since it has been working? we must
assume you are in native mode.)

however recently this has
been erroring with "cant find pdc for <domain>".
Click to expand...

There is no "PDC" in a Win2000+ domain so again we must
assume that this program or message is failing to find the
"PDC Emulator".
Can anyone help point me in the right direction please?
Click to expand...

Given that this is almost certainly a legacy program (a modern
program would not be so focused on the "PDC") it is HIGHLY
likely that this is a NETBIOS name resolution problem.

Assuming (further) that you have no disabled NetBIOS in your
environment this is most likely caused by a multiple subnets
(possibly multiple domains) and NO WINS server(s) OR
failure to specify the "WINS server" on the NIC/IP properties
of your DC which is the "PDC Emulator."

This latter is quite common -- people forget that "servers" much
also be treated as NAME RESOLUTION CLIENTS.

Alternatively, you might have multiple WINS servers that are
not fully replicated.
 
I can confirm that we are running our 2000 domain in
Native mode and I to beleive that curmgr.exe is trying to
contact the PDC emulator, but we have never configured
wins in any part of our enviroment and broadcasts have
always been blocked at the switch level. It has only
recently started to be a problem is there any diags i can
run? DCDIAG confirms that the FSMO roles and correct
services are all running.
 
I can confirm that we are running our 2000 domain in
Native mode and I to beleive that curmgr.exe is trying to
contact the PDC emulator, but we have never configured
wins in any part of our enviroment and broadcasts have
always been blocked at the switch level. It has only
recently started to be a problem is there any diags i can
run? DCDIAG confirms that the FSMO roles and correct
services are all running.
Click to expand...

If the product references the "PDC" then chances are VERY
GOOD it is a NetBIOS (rather than DNS) application.

NetBIOS isn't going to work across routers (or your switch
as you say) with just broadcasts.

DCDiag will NOT report a NetBIOS error -- only DNS and
other AD problems.

Chances are very high that you need a WINS server and to
configure ALL machines (including DCs) as WINS clients.

The real "clients" so they can find the important servers and
other machines, and the "servers" so they will REGISTER
themselves.
 
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