hi, i wonder what's wrong with my setup? i installed active directory first , named it -home, install my dns server, in the DNS Management console i followed the instructions: Start the DNS Management console. Expand the zone information under the server name. Expand Forward Lookup Zones, right-click the name of the Active Directory domain's DNS zone, click Properties, and then verify that Allow Dynamic Updates is set to Yes. Four folders with the following names are present when DNS is correctly registering the Active Directory DNS records. These folders are labeled: _msdcs _sites _tcp _udp I created a computer account and named it crazytopu from the active directory computer and user, I then tried to add my crazytopu pc to this domain But it gave me an error saying that i can't join the domain. What else i can do?

The exact error message would help. It could be saying it can't find the domain which would indicate a DNS problem. It might be saying you don't have permission to join the domain, which would be a rights issue. So give the exact message and I'm sure we can figure this out. Good luck.

thanks Glen, here is the error msg: "The following error occurred validating the name “home”. This condition may be caused by a DNS lookup problem. For information about troubleshooting common DNS lookup problems, pease see the following Microsoft Web site: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=5171 The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted. " I did visit the site and they showed me the step by step procedures to make my DNS up and running. But none of those articles talked about how to add a workstation to a domain. I am sure I will only need to create a user name under active directory user and computer once my computer is added to the domain, right? I’ve already created a user named topu, but as long as my crazytopu pc is outside of the domain this username does not prove useful. What to do next? crazyoli

Check the domain controller's Event Viewer and look at the DNS logs. Are there any serious error messages in there? Also, have you configured the PC with the domain controller/DNS server as it's Preferred DNS server? That client computer must contact DNS to find a domain controller (DC) so you must configure that. Do that via DHCP or in the Properties of TCP/IP. You don't need to create a user account or computer account before hand to join the computer to the domain. If a computer account doens't exist, it will create one, assuming you have sufficient permission to do so. You'll need a user account in order to log into the domain once the computer is configured correctly, but you can test that with the Administrator account once you have things working.

hi again, When i boot my server, before the log on screen comes up, windows shows me the following msg: Server Control Manager At least one service or driver failed during system start up. Use event viewer to examine the event log for details. I checked the even viewer but i got confused. There are so many msg - some r warning, some r information, and some r error. There are so many sub-section also - application log, security log, system log...which one to check and which information i should be looking for? help. Yes, i did configure my workstation to get the dns server in the tcp/ip setting. I clicked on tcp/ip properties, then advanced then dns..add ip of dns..and clicked apply and then ok. Did i do it right?

Some more info: before i installed active directory, i had my home network connected as a workgroup and consisting of 3 pcs. I used my pc as the internal gateway to give net access to other two pcs. So, when i was installing the domain i did not make any changes to the workgroup setting. Do you think it might be the reason of a conflict? Shoudl i have removed the workgroup first and then gone for domain set up?

It would help to know which service didn't start. You would most likely need to look in the System log and look for there errors (red stop signs). Sounds like you did the DNS settings correctly on the clients. You might consider demoting and then promoting the server again and let it configure DNS automatically. This is usually a very simple process. Promote a server to a DC. Configure DNS. Make sure the clients have the proper Preferred DNS server and then join them to the domain.