WinXP Edition Compatibility with Active Directory

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave Morschhauser
  • Start date Start date
D

Dave Morschhauser

The main question is:

Will WinXP Media Center Edition join a domain?

The reason for the question is:

In trying to determine if I could use WinXP Media Center Edition on a new
machine I was purchasing, and still use it in a business environment
employing Active Directory, I found a comparison between Win XP versions
(which, of course I can not find again), that seemed to indicate that Win XP
Media enter was more like WinXP Pro than WinXP Home, and included the
ability to access files from a server (although it never used the phrase
"join a domain").

At any rate I bought the new machine with WinXP Media Center, and when I
tried to join the new machine to the domain, the option to do so (in Control
Panel>System>Computer Name>Change>Member Of) is greyed out, and can not be
changed. There is only one local account, and it is set as the computer
administrator. So now I wonder if I screwed up.

And finally, I can't help but ask:

Why is it that the MS website is full of data, but usually not information.
I just spent the better part of an evening looking for information to
substantiate either that WinXP Media Center can or can not join a domain
with no results - most MS web articles that purport to provide comparisons,
are sales jobs to convince you why XP is better than 2000 or earlier, with
nothing to constructively help you decide between which XP edition you
should use.

In fact, I can't find anything that would conclusively tell me that WinXP
Home will not join a domain either - I just never bothered to purchase it
because I assumed it would be crippled in some way. Since there is nothing
to tell me otherwise, MS gets the benefit of my $ simply by remaining mute
about what the differences are.

(I know, the answer is because they can get away with it <sigh>)
 
Both Windows XP Home Edition and Windows Media
Center were designed for a "home" environment. The
requirement to join a domain in a home environment
is virtually non-existent. Only Windows XP Professional
has the advanced networking capabilities to join a domain.

Windows XP Professional costs more for the added features.
Therefore, you did not pay for the ability to join a domain.

You cannot join your computer to a domain in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;887212

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| The main question is:
|
| Will WinXP Media Center Edition join a domain?
|
| The reason for the question is:
|
| In trying to determine if I could use WinXP Media Center Edition on a new
| machine I was purchasing, and still use it in a business environment
| employing Active Directory, I found a comparison between Win XP versions
| (which, of course I can not find again), that seemed to indicate that Win XP
| Media enter was more like WinXP Pro than WinXP Home, and included the
| ability to access files from a server (although it never used the phrase
| "join a domain").
|
| At any rate I bought the new machine with WinXP Media Center, and when I
| tried to join the new machine to the domain, the option to do so (in Control
| Panel>System>Computer Name>Change>Member Of) is greyed out, and can not be
| changed. There is only one local account, and it is set as the computer
| administrator. So now I wonder if I screwed up.
|
| And finally, I can't help but ask:
|
| Why is it that the MS website is full of data, but usually not information.
| I just spent the better part of an evening looking for information to
| substantiate either that WinXP Media Center can or can not join a domain
| with no results - most MS web articles that purport to provide comparisons,
| are sales jobs to convince you why XP is better than 2000 or earlier, with
| nothing to constructively help you decide between which XP edition you
| should use.
|
| In fact, I can't find anything that would conclusively tell me that WinXP
| Home will not join a domain either - I just never bothered to purchase it
| because I assumed it would be crippled in some way. Since there is nothing
| to tell me otherwise, MS gets the benefit of my $ simply by remaining mute
| about what the differences are.
|
| (I know, the answer is because they can get away with it <sigh>)
 
Thanks to all who responded.

1) Understand that Media Center is what Media Center is.

2) Accept evidence that information was there, even though I couldn't find
it in what I thought were the obvious places (even using Google).

Too bad though, surely even MS can see a role for the capabilities that MCE
has in boardroom presentations. Will go to fallback, which is to function
separate from the domain, and provide credentials when accessing network
resources.

Does anyone know of any shortcuts to automate process of authenticating for
a network resource controlled by a domain when the client is not a member?
 
i *could* be wrong, but i think the info above from the MSKB is
incorrect in your case. it is impossible to join a domain *if you have
a vendor-supplied PC with media center already installed*.
if you've installed it yourself, you have the option to join a domain
AT THE TIME OF BUILDING THE PC and at no other.
presumably it would have been dumb of MS to make an "XP Pro MCE" disk
as there's virtually no demand for it, so they produce one that can be
either Home or Pro - systems integrators build it without domain
access, but you CAN join a domain if you specify this on build.
until recently you couldn't buy MCE2005 on disk, but it's now available
OEM.

hope this helps,
ric
 
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