Win NT 4.0 pcs unable to connect to domain 1

[kleinicus]

The vast majority of PCs that we have are Windows NT 4.0 SP 6a. Our server is running Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP 1. Whenever one of the workstations running NT 4.0 tries to join to the domain there's an error message saying "The domain controller for this domain cannot be located."
The domain is running in mixed mode, and I've made sure to include the name of the domain followed by a \ (i.e. domain\admin) when I put in the administrator password to create the computer account on the domain. Obviously, installing the latest service pack for Win2k on the server probably wouldn't hurt anything, but would that solve my problem? I've tried connecting from NT 4.0 machines with a variety of PCs with different network cards, and even after fresh OS installations. Anyone got any advice?

 

[brontosaurus]

you running WINS? NT4 prefers it...

 

[kleinicus]

Yes, the server is running WINS.

 

[brontosaurus]

OK, so are these NT4 clients pointing to the 2K server for WINS resolution? Can you ping the server by IP and/or by host name? how are you entering the domain name when you try to join? Just use the NetBIOS name, not the FQDN.

 

[kleinicus]

The client machine I'm testing with is now pointing to the IP address of the server for WINS resolution, but same results. I can ping the server by IP address and by host name. I installed NetBIOS on the server where it was not installed before and still no luck. The only thing I'm not sure about is what the NetBIOS name of the server is. I tried using the host name instead of the FQDN, with same results. How do I determine the NetBIOS name of the server?

 

[brontosaurus]

usually it's just the portion of the name prior to the domain suffix. Anyway, open up WINS manager and check if you have records there of type "[1Ch] Domain Controller" that point to the IP and name of the machine that hosts the domain....

 

[kleinicus]

Okay, here's what happened.
I rebooted the server after installing NetBIOS (just in case) and then I tried to connect to the domain again from the NT 4 client machine. It did not work.
So, I decided to try something different. When I connect to the domain from Win2k Professional, I use the name mao.local as the domain name and that always works. Well, what I tried different was leaving off the .local part of the domain name and putting in MAO\Administrator as the admin name and supplied the appropriate password. I had always done that with the username and password, but I had always been putting in the .local part. I think that leaving it off in conjunction with pointing to the server for WINS resolution and enabling NetBIOS on the server is what allowed it to happen, because I'm pretty sure I've tried leaving off the .local before just for testing purposes. So, I think the WINS and NetBIOS stuff had something to do with it too.
Thanks for the help.