New XP PC replacing old XP - Access Denied

[Steve Ikard]

I am replacing an older XP computer on our network
(Windows 2000 Server) with a new XP computer. I am using
the exact same IP address, Computer Name, Domain name,
DNS preferred and alternate, etc. I went through the new
computer wizard when I first brought up this PC and
answered all the questions indicating this would be on a
network and provided all the info. Then I went into My
Computer, Properties, Computer Name tab, and, since it
was "Workgroup", I clicked on "To rename this computer or
join a domain, click Change". After filling in the
computer name and domain name, clicking on OK, and
filling in the User name and password, I get the
following error message: "Your computer could not be
joined to the domain because the following error has
occurred: Access is denied". I know I have the correct
User name and password. What have I done wrong??

Steve Ikard

 

[allan grossman [mvp]]

Hi, Steve -

You'll need to delete the original machine account on the
domain and create a new one.

Standing up a new PC with the same name alone won't let
your PC onto the domain because the security identifier
(SID) of the new PC doesn't match the one associated with
the domain's machine account for your old PC. It's a
pretty simple fix, really.

Hope this helps -

 

[Steve Ikard]

Thanks for the quick reply, Allan. Could you please
elaborate a little more on "delete the original machine
account on the domain and create a new one". Thanks!

Steve

 

[allan grossman [mvp]]

Sure thing, Steve -

This may not be something that can be accomplished at
your level, I'm afraid.

If you have enough horsepower on the network you can
create the machine account yourself, but without
sufficient rights on the domain to create a machine
account you'll need some assistance from someone who does
have the appropriate permissions.

If you do have appropriate permissions on the network to
create machine accounts you could join the domain under a
different computer name but without using server-specific
tools (that don't ship with Windows XP) you wouldn't be
able to delete the old machine account.

It'd probably be best to contact a domain admin to do the
machine account thing for you - if you tell him you need
your old machine account deleted and a new one created
with the same name he'll know exactly what you mean.

Hope this helps -

 

[Steve Ikard]

I found KB article 320187, "How to Manage Computer
Accounts in Active Directory in Windows 2000". It looks
pretty simple: just "Delet a Computer Account" and
then "Add a Computer Account". All from Active Directory
Users and Computers on our Win2K server. Is it that easy?

Steve