Error when joining a domain - network path not found


  1. Posts : 1
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 / Windows Server 2003 R2
       #1

    Error when joining a domain - network path not found


    Hey hey,

    I've been a systems admin for a couple years now and have decided that I want to set up a domain of my own!
    Just want to a have a 2-3 computers on it in the house and maybe even set up a VPN in the future just to play around with.

    After spending ~10 hours / 3.5 PCs worth of components I gave up and installed Windows Server 2003 R2 as a virtual machine on my already running Windows 7 Ultimate box.
    I've now probably spent another 10 hours googling, reading, youtubeing and attempting to configure the server to get .... Anything to connect to the domain!!


    At the moment I only have 2 PCs here - my Windows 7 Ultimate machine which is running the virtual server and another PC also running Windows 7 Ultimate.

    I configured a DNS server and a Domain Controller through the Server 2003 wizard and I really can't get anything to connect to the domain...
    As far as DNS, don't really know a lot about it but I can browse from the other PCs on the network and the server with DNS being set as the servers IP with no alternate...

    The domain is called 'virtualdomain.kenno.com but when I try changing from a workgroup to a domain on the both client PCs with the name "VIRTUALSERVER" I get prompted for credentials, I enter credentials which are either correct with Domain Admin privlidges or even random non existant credentials and get the message:

    The follwoing error occurred attempting to join the domain "virtualdomain":
    The network path was not found.


    Any other server names including virtualdomain.kenno.com (don't know if that's good or not...) tells me:

    An Active Directory Domain Controller (AC DC) for the domain "blahblahblah" could not be contacted.
    Ensure that the domain name is typed correctly.
    If the name is correct, click Details for troubledshooting information.

    If I try and ping virtualdomain.kenno.com it's only pinging Kenno.com on the actual internet

    The annoying thing is that when I first set this up, I'm pretty sure the error mesage from the correct domain name was relating to the account I was typing in not having sufficient privlidges... Then I mucked around with pretty much everything for a few hours .... Then I added the Domain Admins group to the credentials I was using .... And haven't been able to get the same error message since...


    The virtualservers ipconfig /all shows:

    Windows IP Configuration

    Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : dell
    Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : virtualdomain.kenno.com
    Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
    IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
    WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
    DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : virtualdomain.kenno.com
    kenno.com

    Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

    Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : kenno.com
    Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter
    Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-29-C0-C8-54
    DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
    IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.6
    Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
    Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
    DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.6


    The separate client shows:


    Windows IP Configuration

    Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : LAPPY-PC
    Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : kenno.com
    Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
    IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
    WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

    Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

    Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
    Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Con
    nection
    Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-19-D2-9D-20-83
    DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
    Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
    Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::792b:6d5d:b775:6290%13(Preferred)
    IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.7(Preferred)
    Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
    Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
    DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 218110418
    DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-17-2D-47-11-00-1B-24-1C-43-23

    DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.6
    NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled



    The one hosting the server shows:

    Windows IP Configuration

    Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : newpc
    Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : kenno.com
    Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
    IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
    WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

    Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

    Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
    Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8168B/8111B Family PCI-E Gigab
    it Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20)
    Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-7D-D6-D5-05
    DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
    Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
    Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::b49c:2484:e873:a402%11(Preferred)
    IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.69(Preferred)
    Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
    Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
    DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 234888573
    DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-17-2D-21-2E-00-1D-7D-D6-D5-05

    DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.6
    NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled


    Like I said, I can browse!
    Both clients can ping the server
    nslookup from the server and both clients give:
    Default Server: dns3.take2
    Address: 192.168.1.6

    dnsmgmt shows 3 files in the 'take2' subdirectory of the Forward Lookup Zones:

    (same as parent folder) , SOA , [1] dell.virtualdomain.kenno.com. ,hostmaster.virtualdomain.kenno.com
    (same as parent folder) , NS , dell.virtualdomain.kenno.com.
    dns3 , Host (A) , 192.168.1.6


    dnsmgmt shows 2 files in the '192.168.1.x ' subdirectory of the Forward Lookup Zones:

    (same as parent folder) , SOA , [1] dell.virtualdomain.kenno.com. ,hostmaster.virtualdomain.kenno.com
    (same as parent folder) , NS , dell.virtualdomain.kenno.com.


    Both clients and the server could browse last night but today DNS Events dispays several Warnings / Information (when the VM was running the whole time) that:


    "The DNS server encountered error 32 attempting to load zone take2 (my previous DNS attempt before deleting and configuring dns3)from Active Directory. The DNS server will attempt to load this zone" ....

    and:

    The zone take2 is configured to accept updates but the A record for the primary server in the zeones SOA record is not available on this DNS server" ....


    When I got home tonight, I couldn't browse on both clients or the Server, I restarted the server and it worked fine!
    Since then .. I've deleted all DNS and reconfigued it all anyway (the config above shows how it is now).

    I've tried disabling TCP/IP v6 on both clients
    I've enabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP on the server
    I've disabled all firewalls
    I've set 'kenno.com' as the DNS Suffix in the TCP/IP v4 properties on the clients and also in the 'More' setting when trying to change from a workgroup to a domain
    Only one of the client machines (the one not running the VM) will allow me to change the NetBIOS computer name ... I've tried it as newpc.virtualdomain.kenno.com and have the same issue ....

    I really don't know what to try next and would really appreciate some help if anyone out there knows what's going on :)
    I think I've covered everything I've tried and tried to give yo uas much detail as needed but let me know if you need anything else!

    Cheers
      My Computer


  2. 2xg
    Posts : 2,377
    Win7 & Win8 64bit
       #2

    Welcome to Seven Forums,

    Do an experiment - Disable the DHCP from the Server for now and let your router handle the DHCP and DNS, assign DHCP on your Server(s) and Client Computers, now try joining the client computers to the Domain again. Please let us know how it turns out.
    Last edited by 2xg; 01 May 2012 at 21:03.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 2
    Windows 7 32-bit
       #3

    I'm no expert, but, I encountered the same issue when trying to join a new Win7 machine to my existing domain. After trying tips from every thread I could find, I stumbled accross the solution. Although I had enabled TCP/IP NetBios helper for my network adapter, the service never actually started running.

    Check the following: right click 'Computer' under the start menu, click 'Manage', click 'Services and Applications', double click 'Services', scroll down to 'TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper' and see if it shows 'started' in the status column. If not, right click on it and then select 'Properties'. Select the Log On tab. Select the 'This Account' radio button and then Browse. Enter "Local Service" in the box and click Check Names. Click OK. Delete the Password from both Password and Confirm boxes. Now apply. Select the 'general' tab and click the 'Start' button. Close the window. Now try to join the domain.

    This worked for me, I hope it does for you as well. Good luck.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 2
    Windows 7 32-bit
       #4

    Just to clarify, these changes were made on the client computer, NOT the server. There was no issue with the server.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 1,800
    Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1
       #5

    FWIW: Kenno welcome to the windows 7 forum

    One thing is that you are specifying a sub domain name. virtualdomain.kenno.com
    Your domain name is kenno.com not virtualdomain.kenno.com
    Most domain controllers are set to a name.xxx or such.
    I believe that could be your problem.

    Any reason why you created a sub domain?

    rich
      My Computer


 

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