Hi all, I’m having issues adding one of my clients to a test domain that I have set up. Error: A domain controller for the domain tilsed could not be contacted Path used: Right click my comp etc etc. Your have to bare with me on this one I am self teaching myself (which is probably not the best) I have the following, [b]D link route containing a 4port switch.[/b] [quote]IP Address: 192.168.1.1 Netmask: 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway: 212.74.111.194 Host Name: mygateway Domain name: ar7 [/quote] [b]Windows server 2003 R2[/b] [quote] C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ipconfig /all Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : tilsed Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : tilsed.com Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : tilsed.com Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1B-B9-A5-BE-46 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.4 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 11 February 2009 20:26:11 Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 11 February 2009 21:26:11 [/quote] [b]Win Xp prof[/b] [quote] C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ipconfig /all Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : right Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-50-04-4B-01-96 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.6 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 [/quote] Background – I had a domain during my test setup with I have decided to reinstall windows server over the top and start again as I was not happy with some of it. - Both machines have windows firewall disabled (router has firewall but this worked before) - DHCP is not enabled on the server as the router takes care of this - The computers are both wired to the router (the cables have not moved and the XP client was added to the domain before) - Upnp is enabled on the router - The server can pin the IP address of the workstation but not the host name - The workstation can ping both the IP address and the host name - Both machines can ping the servers IP - Both machines can access the internet I have a feeling this is a DNS issue? Please please please provide some help if you have any ideas before I give up. Please also bare in mind im not the most tech savy and currently self teaching so don’t worry about sounding patronising. [b]Thanks[/b] in advance, please ask if you need any more information.

Your feeling about dns would be correct. Your wkst dns entry needs to point the ms dns server not your router gateway. The ms server points to itself for dns "DHCP is not enabled on the server as the router takes care of this" Ah then you don't really understand Active Directory yet then. You can do it this way but the dns entry has to be that of your ms dns server AND you lose the benifit of ms dns being updated automatically by ms dhcp. Using one of the MS training books is a great way to get a solid understanding of the workings of dns and AD.

queyosepa# whois tilsed.com Whois Server Version 2.0 No match for "TILSED.COM". You took your name and added a .com It's not registered and it can't be resolved by DNS. A domain such as yours should be .local Domain name: ar7 [/quote] You could use ar7.local or tilsed.local for the domain name. The machine names can be anything.

guapo what in the OPs post makes you think its an internet domain name?

.com is used for registered domain names. MS recommends .local for internal domains which is what he has. He has Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : tilsed.com Domain name: ar7 How can that work? Wouldn't that cause the error that the domain can't be found?

It would appear this .com is only local. Error relates to a workstation not finding the dc to join the domain.

I'm sure he intended it to be local but DNS doesn't know that and it was probably running when he tried to join the domain. Using .local saves a lot of headaches. A short time ago, someone had a similar problem. They made a .com on their network but there happened to be a real one, by the same name, already registered. It caused a lot of problems.