Vista Looking for credentials while joing W2K3 domain controller

[Guest]

I've got this pain in the butt notebook that came with Vista Business and
when I tried to join an active domain it got hung up while "looking for
credentials" i.e. in preparation for the prompt for the server username and
passowrd to join a domain.

I left that probelm to move on to join other PC's and the next one was
another Vista Business notebook and guess what ... not a problem. I went on
to join other XPP PCs as well.

So the problem isn't the server/network/firewall/etc if evrything but one PC
works??? I have compare the problem Vista to another Vista to see if there's
some config issue but all seem to be the same.... except the problem PC is a
new PC with Vista Business OEM with Office 2007 trial pre-loaded. And Office
2007 stuff was removed. The other "working" Vista PCs were fresh install of
Vista Business.

Anyone with an idea?

Thanks
--Boyd

 

[Kerry Brown]

I've got this pain in the butt notebook that came with Vista Business and
when I tried to join an active domain it got hung up while "looking for
credentials" i.e. in preparation for the prompt for the server username
and
passowrd to join a domain.

I left that probelm to move on to join other PC's and the next one was
another Vista Business notebook and guess what ... not a problem. I went
on
to join other XPP PCs as well.

So the problem isn't the server/network/firewall/etc if evrything but one
PC
works??? I have compare the problem Vista to another Vista to see if
there's
some config issue but all seem to be the same.... except the problem PC is
a
new PC with Vista Business OEM with Office 2007 trial pre-loaded. And
Office
2007 stuff was removed. The other "working" Vista PCs were fresh install
of
Vista Business.

Anyone with an idea?

Thanks
--Boyd

Check the DNS settings. Compare ipconfig /all from a computer that worked to
the one that didn't. When joining a domain the only DNS server in the TCP/IP
properties should be a Domain Controller on the Domain being joined.

 

[Guest]

Server 2003 DC hosts the DHCP server and it's scope options provide the setup
of DNS/WINS to all clients, so the dns/wins/gw... were all the same IPConfig
/all did confirm this. Interesting that the "looking for credentials" PC is
not able to see computers on the domain but setting up a network location was
no problem. all names were resolved without hesitation. this say to me that
either dns or Wins is working just fine.

Is there any possibility that Vista uses a different technique than XP to
join DC hence requiring more on Server 2003?

 

[Kerry Brown]

You have to figure out what is different on that PC from the other Vista
business computer that joined the domain OK. My guess would be a third party
firewall. Note that some AV apps disable the Windows firewall and substitute
their own. As far as I know there are no different requirements on the
server to join Vista to a domain. Use nslookup to confirm that DNS is
working. Failure to join a domain is almost always a DNS problem somewhere.

 

[Guest]

given this is a new pc with not much on it but the os i decided to replace
everything with a fresh vista install. so the pc has nothing but vista on it
right now. i tried the domain join via system
properties/computername/change... and that again gave me the looking for
credential. cancellin this after 5 mins hangs the system properties task and
task manager has to be used to kill it. i then tried system
properties/computername/network id wizard. This worked well (with extra
steps over how its works in XP... Vista annoyance).

So as it stands, the "Change..." doesn't work in Vista but "Network Id" does.

onwards...

thanks for input

--Boyd

 

[Kerry Brown]

That's weird. I've tried joining a domain both ways and both worked. Were
you using the NETBIOS domain name or the FQDN? I didn't think of it until
now but I usually use mydomain.lan rather than just mydomain when joining a
domain.

 

[Guest]

There's no question that there's something weird here. I've tried netbios
and FQDN with the same result. To make matters more weird (than XP) is that
during the wizard Vista asks if you would like to setup a user account and
then says it can't establish a trust. But by this time it has setup a
computer account and joined the domain.

Afterwards I tried using remote desktop to the server and it went right into
the "looking for credentials" and then hung. Again, I had to used Task
manager to kill it.

I'm getting more convinced that the new security approach in Vista is the
culprit, at least it is the main difference in the equation than XP, to what
is a otherwise a stable DC/DNS etc on W2K3 for some time.

The other major set of variables is that new Core 2 Duo laptop is decked out
with the latest add-ons like fingerprint readers, cameras, wireless N, etc.
I can't connect these dots to a domain join but hey what do I know.

I even went to the trouble to re-install a version of Vista on this laptop
that worked well on another to eliminate the chance the OEM version wasn't
using the same build of Vista. Alas ...

Time to post a new "looking for credential" during remote desktop connection

--Boyd

 

[Kerry Brown]

It could be a flaky NIC driver.

 

[Guest]

Now that would make a lot of sense. I'll check out Broadcom for an update
over Acer.

--Boyd

 

[Kerry Brown]

Is it an Acer with a broadcom wireless NIC? The computer I'm typing this on
is an Acer laptop with a broadcom wireless NIC. The wireless works fine but
if I remember right I was using the wired connection when I joined the
domain. I'm pretty sure I'm using the driver that installed during the Vista
install with a standard Vista Business retail DVD. I tried a driver that
Windows Updates pushed out but I had intermittent connectivity.

 

[Guest]

yes it is a Acer TM5720 and it has Broadcom wired and wireless, although I'm
have no info on which model of Broadcom. Given that Broadcom is an OEM
provider they were no help.

It was wired during the join.

--Boyd

 

[Kerry Brown]

Mine has a Realtek wired NIC. I know Broadcom drivers have been pretty
flaky. They had some major problems with Server 2003 SP2. The Vista drivers
may be just as quirky.