Completed new installation (not upgrade) to XP pro on a stand alone machine, the system successfully asked me to define my users, however, regardless of which user attempts to log in (including administrator). I get Logon Message as follows: The system cannot log you on due to the following error: The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted. Please try again or consult your systems administrator. The only option the administrator has is shutdown or restart. I have tried various safe modes and directory services restore, which indicates everything is fine but at logon I fail for the same reason as above. I have also tried the XP repair option from the CD; no change. Short of starting all over which is less than pleasant, does anyone have a suggestion? Thanks. Sandor

When you log in, click at the bottom where it says "options" and specify to log into local computer/drive.

Thanks Tom, but my problem is just that I can't log in. When I highlight a user, a password area appears (I never set up passwords before, just user names) and whether I enter a password or leave it blank I get the logon error message described above. If I could get into Windows I would muck around networks until fixed.

you are trying to log into a domain (that you obviously don't have a connection to, or a user setup on). You need to, as Tom suggests select the local machine to log into and set the machine as a workgrouped machine instead of a domain client. a fresh install of xp will not do this by default, it will try to set itself up as part of a workgroup.