Windows XP Dual Boot and AD

[michcarr]

Hi Everyone, Perhaps you can help me. Recently at one of our sites we have a Dual Boot setup in our training room. Both partitions are Windows XP Pro. (One side is Production setup and the other is a Training Setup). Both partitions have the same machine name and are setup in AD.

Some how, one partition was removed from the Domain. Which is easily fixed by re-adding. But when we do this it messes up the trust relationship on the other partition since they both have the same machine name. So far the only fix I have is to give each partition a different DNS Name and then re-add both partitions back into AD. I guess what I am asking is, is there a way to get both sides setup on AD again without changing the name or reimaging the system? Thanks in advance for your help.

Mike C.

 

[bcastner]

No.

The issue is that you are associating a machine and a SID. You installations have the same name but different SIDs. This is a no-no.

This is true in any dual-boot setup: xp and win2k for example. The Netbios name of the computer must be unique and match the SID used at the time of machine registration with the Domain.

 

[michcarr]

That is what I figured. But I thought I would check to see if there was something else out there I haven't tried. Looks like I am going to have to give each partition a different name. Thanks for your input!!

 

[wolluf]

How did it work in the first place then?

Was one partition a clone of the other - without changing SID - so they both effectively look like the same machine to the domain (and as only one on at time..)

 

[bcastner]

SID conflicts are not necessarily fatal. They are just very strongly ill-advised.

The issue becomes how long between times you flip between the two OS versions. If you wait long enough, it will seem to work as the original token has expired on the server.

It just is a bad idea, and easily remedied. It is a no-no to try two identical Netbios machine registrations in a domain.