Non-existant domain to workgroup

[Guest]

I am trying to reconfigure a client's Win2K Pro laptop from being part of a
domain to simply being in a workgroup. The domain that it was joined to
doesn't exist anymore. I can logon with the local administrator account, but
when I change the network setting from domain to workgroup, the operation
fails with a message that the domain cannot be disjoined since it is
unreachable. The message also mentions a service that is not running, but
doesn't say which one.

Can anybody please shed some light on this issue; it's driving me nuts.

 

[Steve Duff [MVP]]

The inability to contact the domain to remove the computer's
Active Directory entry will not prevent the system from being
removed. You will indeed get an error that the domain
could not be contacted, but normally it will say that the computer
has been disjoined. That error message is benign.

If you are getting a different error, you need to post its text
to give a clue to your problem.

Steve Duff, MCSE, MVP
Ergodic Systems, Inc.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your feedback Steve. The behaviour you described below is exactly
what I was expecting, so I came to the conclusion that there was some problem
within the installation.

I tried running a repair from the Win2K CD, but it made no differnce. I then
did an in-place upgrade which fixed the issue and I was able to disjoin the
domain.