Duplicate machine GUIDs

[Bruce]

Hi,

We've just migrated to Win2K Server/WinXP. Don't ask me how it
happened but we have ended up with duplicate machine GUIDs on our
network. For each XP PC there are maybe 2 or 3 others with the same
GUID.

[For Info: It happend because we used the same bunch of network cards
for RIS-ing the PCs. The onboard network cards weren't compatible with
RIS so we swapped network cards in and out as we went along. I don't
know if anyone else has experienced this?]

Anyway, the end result is that we now have duplciate machine GUIDs in
our domain. We haven't noticed any problems yet. Does anyone know if
it will cause any problems in the future? Also, how do we solve the
problem so that all PCs have a unique GUID?

Thanks,

Bruce.

 

[Marina Roos]

Put those clients into a Workgroup, reboot, rejoin to the domain.

Marina

 

[Bruce]

Thanks for the advice. I was really thinking of a solution that
wouldn't involve having to log on and change settings on each PC.

Is there any other solution?

I wondered if it might be possible to manually change the GUID of each
machine in the AD, just by randomly changing a few digits on the GUID
properties of each machine object. With each GUID having 2^128
combinations the probability of a collision would be infinitesmly
small.

I notice that Active Directory Users and Computers does actually allow
you to do this.

I'm thinking it would not work because each AD Computer Object must be
linked directly to a physical computer somehow (one to one mapping).
So, maybe the GUID is also stored on the HD of each PC.

Thanks,

Bruce.

Put those clients into a Workgroup, reboot, rejoin to the domain.

Marina

Hi,

We've just migrated to Win2K Server/WinXP. Don't ask me how it
happened but we have ended up with duplicate machine GUIDs on our
network. For each XP PC there are maybe 2 or 3 others with the same
GUID.

[For Info: It happend because we used the same bunch of network cards
for RIS-ing the PCs. The onboard network cards weren't compatible with
RIS so we swapped network cards in and out as we went along. I don't
know if anyone else has experienced this?]

Anyway, the end result is that we now have duplciate machine GUIDs in
our domain. We haven't noticed any problems yet. Does anyone know if
it will cause any problems in the future? Also, how do we solve the
problem so that all PCs have a unique GUID?

Thanks,

Bruce.

 

[Marina Roos]

Hi Bruce,

I just saw this in another newsgroup, so maybe it's something for you to
check out.

You can download moveuser.exe from Microsoft as part of the Windows Server
2003 Resource Kit Tools.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-
96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en

Marina

Thanks for the advice. I was really thinking of a solution that
wouldn't involve having to log on and change settings on each PC.

Is there any other solution?

I wondered if it might be possible to manually change the GUID of each
machine in the AD, just by randomly changing a few digits on the GUID
properties of each machine object. With each GUID having 2^128
combinations the probability of a collision would be infinitesmly
small.

I notice that Active Directory Users and Computers does actually allow
you to do this.

I'm thinking it would not work because each AD Computer Object must be
linked directly to a physical computer somehow (one to one mapping).
So, maybe the GUID is also stored on the HD of each PC.

Thanks,

Bruce.

"Marina Roos" <[email protected]> wrote in message

Put those clients into a Workgroup, reboot, rejoin to the domain.

Marina

Hi,

We've just migrated to Win2K Server/WinXP. Don't ask me how it
happened but we have ended up with duplicate machine GUIDs on our
network. For each XP PC there are maybe 2 or 3 others with the same
GUID.

[For Info: It happend because we used the same bunch of network cards
for RIS-ing the PCs. The onboard network cards weren't compatible with
RIS so we swapped network cards in and out as we went along. I don't
know if anyone else has experienced this?]

Anyway, the end result is that we now have duplciate machine GUIDs in
our domain. We haven't noticed any problems yet. Does anyone know if
it will cause any problems in the future? Also, how do we solve the
problem so that all PCs have a unique GUID?

Thanks,

Bruce.