Netlogon service is missing

[fourheadns]

Good morning,

One of the computers (xp pro client)started acting wierd after someone installed a 2nd NIC card. For some reason the netlogon services has stopped running and I can't seem to find it (logged in as the owner of the computer) after going into the services console (services.msc). I can't log in to the computer using my logon name, but the user of the computer was able to (but she just can't use the network since the netlogon has stopped running). I can log in as an administrator locally, but the netlogon service is not there as well. Does anyone know how to re-create the netlogon service? Thanks.

 

[Ali147gta]

from a command prompt try and start the service manually by typing

sc start netlogon


does this help ?

 

[fourheadns]

Thanks for the reply and the command. That didn't work - I checked the services and it was still missing. The funny thing is that I can still get to the network drives by typing the server name from the "run" prompt. It just won't let other people log into the computer other than the owner (which is probably cached by XP so it logs the owner in but she doesn't have access to certain things, like the "password change" problem that xp has). I also tried to unjoining the computer, but the "change" button was grayed out. So it looks like Netlogon is messed up or something in this machine. I'm really reluctant to re-install this computer. Any other ideas? Thanks so much!

 

[bcastner]

If this computer was joined to a Domain then the behavior you are experiencing is normal.

It is not a netlogin service issue, per se.

At the login screen scroll, if necessary, to adjust the login focus to the local workstation console and login as the original owner/administrator.

Right-click My Computer, Properties, Computer Name, and then select Change. Put in the original Domain name. Try to apply it. If the user is not a member of the Domain Administrator Group, which is likely, you will be asked to supply the login credentials of someone who is. Provide them.

Sometimes NT domains, and sometimes Win2k server domains do not like recredentialing an existing user. Sometimes. You solve this by going to the Server and removing the original user entry and then adding it back. Now go back and do the steps above to rejoin the computer to the Domain. Why this additional step is necessary sometimes is a bit of a mystery, but so be it.

 

[fourheadns]

Thank you for your reply. The reason I can't unjoin or rejoin the domain is because the "Change button" in the systems property in "Computer Name" tab is grayed out, even logged in as administrator. So this didn't work.

I had to re-install the os for this computer - it was much easier to do than troubleshooting it. Thanks a lot for both of your help.

 

[bcastner]

Just so you have an idea what was going on, when the computer joined an Active Directory Domain the policy profile of the Domain takes over. In almost all cases this restricts the user, even the owner Administrator, who logs into the Domain session instead of the local console from being able to make changes that affect any network setting.

If you had tried, I bet that you would not be able to even add a new connection under Dial-up.

When this computer rejoins the Domain the policy capture will take place again. So make any changes now, as your ability as a Domain logon user to make changes later will again be restricted.