Network - workgroups and domains

[Laurence Payne]

Hi
Can anyone point me to a simple description of the differences between
a Workgroup and a Domain? I have always used a Workgroup and
understand how to set these up. But I have encountered a system
using a Domain. How do I make a machine join the Domain? Can it be
in a Workgroup and a Domain? This laptop needs to join the Domain at
work, I would also like to have a simple network at home. The person
who set up the work system has left. (Yeah. Tell me about it:-(

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Simply put - a workgroup is a peer to peer network, wherein there is no
centralized security model. A domain gives you centralized account/security
management.

You can't natively belong to a domain and a workgroup at the same time, nor
to more than one domain at a time, nor to more than one workgroup at a time.
You can use your laptop with the domain membership to access resources on a
home workgroup, though, without changing any settings....a lot of people do
this. Log in with the domain cached credentials, and map a drive to a share
on one of the workgroup computers specifying the appropriate credentials for
the share....

net use \\computername\sharename /user:computername\localcomputeraccount
<enter>

Once that's cached, you can also use a printer attached to that computer,
etc etc etc..

This presumes you have basic IP connectivity ...nice to have DHCP in both
locations.

 

[Laurence Payne]

You can't natively belong to a domain and a workgroup at the same time, nor
to more than one domain at a time, nor to more than one workgroup at a time.
You can use your laptop with the domain membership to access resources on a
home workgroup, though, without changing any settings....a lot of people do
this. Log in with the domain cached credentials, and map a drive to a share
on one of the workgroup computers specifying the appropriate credentials for
the share....

net use \\computername\sharename /user:computername\localcomputeraccount
<enter>

Once that's cached, you can also use a printer attached to that computer,
etc etc etc..

This presumes you have basic IP connectivity ...nice to have DHCP in both
locations.

Thank you.
Presumably at work the domain will be administered by one particular
computer? The guy who set it all up left no documentation, but he
DID leave a list of passwords. So, if I knew what to look for, I
would hopefully be able to make settings permitting this new machine
onto the domain? What AM I looking for?

 

[Chuck]

Thank you.
Presumably at work the domain will be administered by one particular
computer? The guy who set it all up left no documentation, but he
DID leave a list of passwords. So, if I knew what to look for, I
would hopefully be able to make settings permitting this new machine
onto the domain? What AM I looking for?

Laurence,

To join your laptop to the domain at work, you will need the domain
administrative account and password. You will need to connect the laptop to the
network there, then login as a local administrator to the laptop, and from the
System wizard (System - Computer Name - Change) use the domain administrator
account and password to add the laptop to the domain.

The laptop is running XP Pro, right?

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Laurence Payne]

Laurence,

To join your laptop to the domain at work, you will need the domain
administrative account and password. You will need to connect the laptop to the
network there, then login as a local administrator to the laptop, and from the
System wizard (System - Computer Name - Change) use the domain administrator
account and password to add the laptop to the domain.

The laptop is running XP Pro, right?

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

Thank you

 

[Chuck]

Thank you

My pleasure. Hope it works out for you.

 

[Laurence Payne]

My pleasure. Hope it works out for you.

You've been so helpful - want to try another one?

On my home network, I use Offline Files. I (apparently) have to
accept that a bug in XP Pro means that on each boot, Offline Files
enablement will be reset. The files are still there, but I have to go
to Tools/Folder Options and re-enable.

Can I script something that will perform this process automatically
when I boot?