Domain issue 1

[foxup]

Hi,

I seem to have an issue with my PC (Win 7 64 Bit) and our network. It all started when I installed my computer I went through wizard to login into domain and 'mapped' all my networks drives. Everything seemed OK but one of my colleagues says that I not actually logged into the domain. When I do a :

echo %USERDOMAIN%
I'm not in the proper domain name

BUT, when I look in RIGHT CLICK MY COMPUTER->SYSTEM PROPERTIES->DOMAIN it says the correct DOMAIN. What the heck??

Can somebody please help & tell me what's going on.


Thanks,
FOXUP!

 

[cdogg]

I don't know how the %USERDOMAIN% environment variable can be off, but it should get reset when you reboot. Try that first if you haven't already.

When Windows first boots up, I assume you are entering your domain username/password to log in. If so, then that's really all the confirmation you should need. However, you can also test by accessing domain resources. For example, if you have a personal share homedrive (such as H, and you can access it, then you're on the domain. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to open it.

By the way, there's a few gaps in your story. Why is a "colleague" telling you you're not logged into the domain? How do they know? Are they looking over your shoulder or looking at something else? You also said you used a wizard to log in. What wizard? Need more info to troubleshoot further...

-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

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[foxup]

I just tried something & it gets weirder. Very strange. I tried logging from another computer in the office with my login name and I cannot login. A colleague logs in from "the other computer" with no problems. I login from my PC with no problems and my colleague cannot logi from my PC. What in the world is going on? very very bizarre. It's as if only my pc accepts me to login. how can that be?


please help.

thanks,
FOXUP

 

[cdogg]

You haven't responded to my suggestion to try accessing domain resources. Are you able to view a shared drive that only domain users have access to?

Also, when you right-click My Computer and go to Properties, it should show your Computer name, Full computer name, and Domain. The full computer name will begin with the computer name followed by the domain name. So for example, if your computer name was WarnerBros and the domain was acme.com, then the full computer name would be WarnerBros.acme.com. Is that what you're seeing on both PC's?

 

[DSummZZZ]

%USERDOMAIN% will get set when the "cmd" window is opened. So if any environment variable changes, the change won't be reflected in the cmd window until the window is closed and re-opened.
As for logging in on one computer and not being able to on another, are you sure the correct domain is being selected when logging in? Or are you logging in as a local user?


-Dave Summers-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.dave-summers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[foxup]

cdogg,

I cannot login with other PC's. I can only login with my PC and cannot view a shared drive that only domain users have access to. For that happen I must login as another 'user' (map network drive using different credentials to view the shared drives.
Yes, settings on computer name, full computer name,domain coincide well with respect to each other.

Dsummzzz,

After some testing, it seems my "echo %USERDOMAIN%" on my PC is different from all other computers on the network. Mine says "BILLING", others say "OFFICE". I'm deduce that I am not on the same network as everbody, am I correct? What is happeining?


Thanks,
FOXUP

 

[foxup]

To add to it though, why can't username login from all other PC's on the network. My username only works on my PC.

 

[cdogg]

Sorry, it doesn't make sense that you cannot log into other workstations on the domain. You need to solve that first before you attempt to troubleshoot your PC. Contact the IT support for that domain to figure out why your ID/password isn't working.

Once you are able to sign in on other PC's, I recommend having your IT support take your PC off the domain, reboot, rejoin the domain, and reboot again. When the login screen appears, verify that you are logging into the correct domain BEFORE you log in. If you need help determining that, let us know.

-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[foxup]

exactly, it doesn't make sense. My IT guy isn't the brightest lighht bulb in the room. What can I have him do exactly? Please let me know.

 

[foxup]

Sorry, I forgot to add another thing, when I get to the point where I do the "take my PC off the domain, reboot, rejoin the domain, and reboot again", will I lose any information? Will I still be able to access all my files/programs on my PC properly?


thanks

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

Are you sure this isnt a DNS issue?

What DNS is the workstation pointing to?

You might need to start looking in Event logs.

ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[foxup]

which workstation exactly? how do I know what the DNS's are?

 

[cdogg]

hairlesssupportmonkey,
The fact that foxup cannot sign into other workstations on the domain that are working is the first issue that needs to be addressed.

foxup,
Let's concentrate on that first. Your IT dept/person should be able to check the number of failed logins for your account in Active Directory, see whether your account is active or disabled, and reset your password if necessary. These are very basic troubleshooting steps that even a challenged IT person should know how to deal with.

To answer your question though, no you will not lose anything on the workstation by removing it from the domain, rebooting, and rejoining. However, a local user account with admin rights should be enabled on the workstation, so you can log into it after the reboot and rejoin the domain (only administrators can rejoin). I highly advise you leave this up to your IT at this point to troubleshoot.

 

[foxup]

ok, so update, I had admin 'reset' password on my login and I can now login to all other pc's on network. Now, next step is to so the following on my PC: "remove it from the domain, rebooting, and rejoining". I'll keep that until tomorrow as it's almost 5pm there.

To be continued....lol

I'll keep you all updated.

thanks

 

[gbaughma]

Not to state the obvious... but are you sure you're actually logging into the domain, and not the local computer?



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

 

[foxup]

hey gbaughma,

The obvious (as you say) is EXACTLY what was was happening !! LOL...LOL... I was logged on locally and had all my network drives 'manually mapped'. Good catch !

My last question is with respect to "remove it from the domain, rebooting, and rejoining". If I am not actually 'joined' to the domain to begin with will I need to go thru that step or can I just 'join'. Also, I jsut want to make sure (again), will I lose any information? Will I will still be able to run everything that I run on my PC locally.

Please let me know.


Thanks

 

[gbaughma]

When you join the domain and log into the domain, a new local profile will be created, giving you the appearance that you lost everything. However, if you look in your c:\Users\ folder, you will see something like c:\Users\YourName and c:\Users\YourName.Domain Guess where all your files are?

And yes, anything installed locally on the machine should run, assuming that there are no group policies on the domain preventing it.



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

 

[cdogg]

but are you sure you're actually logging into the domain, and not the local computer?

That was going to be my follow-up question once the network login was taken care of! I suspected that's why he could log into his workstation but no one else's!


foxup,
Once the PC is joined to the domain, it will only accept network logins unless you specify the computer name in the beginning. For example, if I wanted to log in as the local user Tom and my computer name was PC1, then at the login prompt, I could type PC1\Tom for the username. So if you ever need to log back into your local account later on, you still can.

 

[foxup]

All my settings are different (Desktop settings, font, etc..) Is there anyway of getting the 'old desktop and other custom settings' that were applied previouslt. Also, I get an error why I try to access the c:\Users\YourName.Domain to get all my progs. It's like an 'access denied error'. i'll check it exactly and come back to you but is there anything that I could do to get all old settings 'applied' to new profile?


Please let me know.


Thanks,
FOXUP

 

[cdogg]

Unfortunately, there's not an easy way of getting the settings to transfer from one profile to another. Microsoft does include the "Windows Easy Transfer" wizard, and there's also Microsoft's User State Migration Tool which is more complex and not so user friendly. However, both tools backup and move profiles from one PC to another. They are not able to move settings from one profile into another, which is what you are trying to do.

There are other ways, such as copying your profile into the default user profile, but doing so requires a good deal of knowledge and time. When you are only dealing with 1 or 2 workstations, it's not usually worth the effort. You're better off configuring your new profile from scratch, and then manually moving documents, desktop shortcuts, favorites, etc., out of your old profile into the new one.

To do that, you'll need to be logged in with admin rights. From your last post, it seems like you don't have that. If you think your old profile has local admin rights, then log back into it using the "PC1\Tom" example I posted above. Once logged in under your old username, you should be able to move the files you need over to the new profile.

-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

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