Changing Computer Name on Win 2000 Pro ... 1

[ctguitars]

Hi Guys,

I am afraid I do not use Win 2000 that much, so a steep learning curve is being taken. I generally in the past have used NT Server 4, simple networks, nothing too advanced.

I inherited a client who has Win 2000 Server, 2 win 98 PC's, 1 Win Me Machine, 2 XP Pro Machines and 1 Win 2000 Pro W/stat. Yes its a complete mish mash. I inherited it from a previous company, who seem to have not set all this up very well, or has depending on your sense of adventure. On the SERVER, they have setup active Directory as the means of control. My problem [ amongst many ] is that one of the Win 98 PC's is setup to login as say amurphy. The user logs in with amurphy and uses the appropriate password assigned to it in AD. All is well and it works. BUT, it now turns out that amurphy has since left and the new user should login in the future as tmoynihan. This will not work as an error loosely stating that tmoynihan cannot be used appears [ conflict ]. It turns out that tmoynihan is the COMPUTER NAME of the one and only Win 2000 Pro W/stat, even though the user at this station logs on as mdennehy. I assume the tmoynihan COMPUTER NAME needs to be changed to mdennehy so as to free up the tmoynihan user name to be used on the win98 pc. If I try and change the COMPUTER NAME tmoynihan [ right click My Computer, properties etc ] to mdennehy on the w2000 box, up pops a box requiring a Username / Password. I have a question here - is this the tmoynihan Uname / Pword, the Server admin Uname/Pword OR a local wgrp Admin Uname/Pword? None of these worked. Any help and direction to clear up this mess would be appreciated - tips, proper practice etc. Is it necessary to change the COMPUTER NAME for example. Dummies Guide where possible please.

It also transpires that the server is popping up messages about license limits per server. What is the default licenses with Win 2000 Pro Server - 5 as with NT 4? Looks like a license upgrade will also be needed if this is the case, as at the moment it is 6 users plus the server. Comment here also please.

Finally I realize the best solution is to turf Win 2000 Server ... Why, well it is a bit overkill for 6 users. The site will never go over 10 users. Win XP Pro would be more suited, as they only use the network for Internet access, emailing, File / Print Sharing - Security is not at the top of the list. PLUS all the PC's should have XP Pro also. Ah Well in an ideal world. I look forward to your responses, here and/or via email

Cheers
Aidan O Driscoll
aidanodr@eircom.net

 

[markdmac]

Aidan,

As you have stated you are not that well versed in Win2K, I'll make the following suggestions which are probably the easiest if a few extra steps.

On the Win2K Pro machine, make sure you know the local admin password. I suggest you synchronize it with the domain admin password. To do this right click My Coputer, choose Manage. Expand Users and Groups. Expand users. Right click Administrator and choose Set Password.

Now that you know for sure the local admin password, Right click My Computer and choose Properties. Click the Computer Name tab. Click the Change button. Type the new computername and select Workgroup to move the PC into a workgroup. When prompted enter the admin ID and password. Reboot.

On the Server, go into Users & Computers and delete the machine account for the W2K Pro Workstation.

Go back to the workstation.Right click My Computer and choose Properties. Click the Computer Name tab. Click the Change button. Type the new computername and select Domain and enter the domain name to move the PC back into the Domain using the new computername. When prompted enter the admin ID and password. Reboot.

I would disagee with you on the concept of gettign rid of the server for a few reasons. First, the client already paid good money for a server license. Second it is a heck of a lot easier to manage security accounts on a single box than on multiple workstations.

For the licensing, the client will probably need to get an additional license. Check the license manager to see what has currently been installed. Verify if there are any licenses that can be revoked which might bring you back into compliance.

I would certainly agree with you to have the customer upgrade all client machines to XP. Aside from the advantages of the more stable OS, it is a heck of a lot easier to support if there is a common platform to work on.

I hope you find this post helpful. Please let me know if it was.

Regards,

Mark

 

[crobin1]

Note on the license warnings. In my experience you can not trust the License Service in any version of Windows. I have fought with it since NT 4. I have deleted users out of it, and they mysteriously reappear later. At one point I got so tired of dealing with it that I simply told the license service I had extra licenses so it would quit complaining.

Several sites recommend disabling the License Logging Service, and in fact in Windows Server 2003 Microsoft has finally set the service to Disabled by default.

This means they may or may not be out of license compliance; Windows just thinks that they are using more licenses than Windows was told that they have (and if they told it a certain number, and then later purchased more licenses but forgot to add that number in the Licensing Service, it would obviously still be wrong). The only way to know for sure is find written/printed documentation about what was purchased.