Home to Pro upgrade issues with AD domain

[rusty]

I do some side work for a small company. They have 3
computers that when purchased were running XP home.
Somewhere a long the line, someone upgraded them to XP pro
so they could connect to an Active Dir domain.

For the most part, the computers work fine and ARE able to
authenticate with the domain. Here's the problem I am
having...

I sign into any one of the three computers with the domain
administrator account, go to Computer Manager \ Local
Users and Groups and try add a domain user account to the
local Administrators group (or any group for that
matter). However, when I click Add, and then click
the 'Look In' list box, only the local computer is
available. It does not see the domain. I can then log
off the domain admin account, and log back onto the
computer using any domain account I wish.

I think there may be something hanging around from XP home
that is preventing Pro from being able to see the domain
when assigning group permissions. My question is has
anyone heard of this happening? Also would anyone know
how I could resolve this with out having to do a format /
reinstall of Pro?

Thanks in advance!

Rusty

 

[Ron Lowe]

I do some side work for a small company. They have 3
computers that when purchased were running XP home.
Somewhere a long the line, someone upgraded them to XP pro
so they could connect to an Active Dir domain.

For the most part, the computers work fine and ARE able to
authenticate with the domain. Here's the problem I am
having...

I sign into any one of the three computers with the domain
administrator account, go to Computer Manager \ Local
Users and Groups and try add a domain user account to the
local Administrators group (or any group for that
matter). However, when I click Add, and then click
the 'Look In' list box, only the local computer is
available. It does not see the domain. I can then log
off the domain admin account, and log back onto the
computer using any domain account I wish.

I think there may be something hanging around from XP home
that is preventing Pro from being able to see the domain
when assigning group permissions. My question is has
anyone heard of this happening? Also would anyone know
how I could resolve this with out having to do a format /
reinstall of Pro?

Thanks in advance!

Rusty

This usually indicates a DNS misconfiguration problem.
Are logins using a domain user very slow too?

Ensure the XP boxes are pointing to ONLY to the DNS
server which hosts the domain.

Here's my usual lecture on the topic:

XP differs from previous versions of windows in that it uses
DNS as it's primary name resolution method for finding domain
controllers:

How Domain Controllers Are Located in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314861

If DNS is misconfigured, XP will spend a lot of time waiting for it to
timeout before it tries using legacy NT4 sytle NetBIOS.
( Which may or may not work. )

1) Ensure that the XP clients are all configured to point to the local
DNS server which hosts the AD domain. That will probably be the
win2k server itself.
They should NOT be pointing an an ISP's DNS server.
An 'ipconfig /all' on the XP box should reveal ONLY the domain's
DNS server.

( you should use the DHCP server to push out the local DNS server
address. )

2) Ensure DNS server on win2k is configured to permit dynamic updates.

3) Ensure the win2k server points to itself as a DNS server.

4) For external ( internet ) name resolution, specify your ISP's DNS server
not on the clients, but in the 'forwarders' tab of the local win2k DNS
server.

On the DNS server, if you cannot access the 'Forwarders' and 'Root Hints'
tabs because they are greyed out, that is because there is a root zone (".")
present on the DNS server. You MUST delete this root zone to permit the
server to forward unresolved queries to yout ISP or the root servers:

HOWTO: Remove the Root Zone (Dot Zone)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=298148

The following articles may assist you in setting up DNS correctly:

Setting Up the Domain Name System for Active Directory
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;237675
HOW TO: Configure DNS for Internet Access in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;300202

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----




This usually indicates a DNS misconfiguration problem.
Are logins using a domain user very slow too?

Ensure the XP boxes are pointing to ONLY to the DNS
server which hosts the domain.

Here's my usual lecture on the topic:

XP differs from previous versions of windows in that it uses
DNS as it's primary name resolution method for finding domain
controllers:

How Domain Controllers Are Located in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en- us;314861

If DNS is misconfigured, XP will spend a lot of time waiting for it to
timeout before it tries using legacy NT4 sytle NetBIOS.
( Which may or may not work. )

1) Ensure that the XP clients are all configured to point to the local
DNS server which hosts the AD domain. That will probably be the
win2k server itself.
They should NOT be pointing an an ISP's DNS server.
An 'ipconfig /all' on the XP box should reveal ONLY the domain's
DNS server.

( you should use the DHCP server to push out the local DNS server
address. )

2) Ensure DNS server on win2k is configured to permit dynamic updates.

3) Ensure the win2k server points to itself as a DNS server.

4) For external ( internet ) name resolution, specify your ISP's DNS server
not on the clients, but in the 'forwarders' tab of the local win2k DNS
server.

On the DNS server, if you cannot access the 'Forwarders' and 'Root Hints'
tabs because they are greyed out, that is because there is a root zone (".")
present on the DNS server. You MUST delete this root zone to permit the
server to forward unresolved queries to yout ISP or the root servers:

HOWTO: Remove the Root Zone (Dot Zone)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=298148

The following articles may assist you in setting up DNS correctly:

Setting Up the Domain Name System for Active Directory
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en- us;237675
HOW TO: Configure DNS for Internet Access in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en- us;300202


--
Best Regards,
Ron Lowe
MS-MVP Windows Networking


.

Thank you very much for your help. I think you hit the
nail on the head. I will check DNS / DHCP and repost if
the issue is not fixed.

Thanks again!