virtual machine can ping server but cannot connect to domain

superbabe_uk

In VMWare I set up a Server for the contoso.com domain and I have created a virtual XP machine to join the domain. I have always been able to log on to the XP machine with any user logon I had created on the server but after the last restart I can no longer logon to the contoso domain.If I logon to the XP workstation locally I can see that the IP settings are correct and I can ping the server's IP address aswell as "contoso.com".Any suggestions where to begin troubleshooting? THANK YOU.

hexem

Do you get a specific error message when you try the domain login?

Usually it will say "There are currently no logon servers available"

Worth checking the machine is showing up in the computers OU of active directory, also checking event logs.

superbabe_uk

hexem wrote: »

Do you get a specific error message when you try the domain login?

thanks for your reply. I get the error message "Windows cannot connect to the domain, either because the domain controller is down or otherwise unavailable or because your computer account was not found. Please try again later. If this message continues to appear, contact your sys admin"

Darril

If you can ping the server's IP address, this shows connectivity. If you can ping the domain name (contoso.com), this shows DNS is working. It sounds like the computer account password may be out of sync with Active Directory. This can occur if you save one VM image (like the XP box) but don't save another image (like the DC), but can also occur for other reasons.

I'd suggest resetting the computer account in Active Directory which will require you to disjoin and rejoin the domain. You can simply disjoin and rejoin the domain without resetting the account. This will create a new account with a new SID which probably won't matter but if you want to retain the SID, reset it first.

HTH,

Darril Gibson
Security blog

superbabe_uk

Darril wrote: »

I'd suggest resetting the computer account in Active Directory which will require you to disjoin and rejoin the domain. You can simply disjoin and rejoin the domain without resetting the account. This will create a new account with a new SID which probably won't matter but if you want to retain the SID, reset it first.

this did the trick, thank you !!