Connecting a Windows XP Professional PC to a Windows Server 2003 PC Domain

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Hi, I have recently begun studying for my first mcp. I am doing 70-290 and am having some trouble connecting my xp pro machine to the windows 2003 domain. I have physically connected both machines using a crossover cable and have verified that the connection works fine with setting each PC an IP and Sub Mask.
However when I try to add the xp pro machine to the windows 2003 domain it wont let me. I think there must be some configuration that needs to be done on both sides to make this work but I am not sure what steps need to be taken.
Any help much appreciated.

 

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Ok, firstly, Welcome to CF!

Next, can the two PC's see each other? I.e. can they ping each other?

What is the error message that is being produced, and at which stage of the joining process does this occur?

 

Thanks for the welcome.
Yes the two pcs can ping each other. I can, for example, share a folder on the xp machine and add it as a mapped network drive on the 2003 server pc.
The error occurs when I try to add the xp machine to the domain in computer name changes. I think it has something to do with configuring the DNS server.

 

It the 2003 server set up as a Domain Controller?

As part of the Active Directory install you are required to specify the DNS settings.

 

Initially the DNS server wasnt installed but I installed that after. To be honest im just starting out with this and dont really know how to actually configure it all. What should I configure for the setup I have (direct crossover connection).

 

Look in the lab partners thread here you might find something there to setup a lab!

 

Have you set up a computer account for the xp computer in the domain?

 

if you installed the dns later, then you might miss the necessary active directory records.

 

I would say it was a DNS issue. If I remember rightly when joining a machine to a domain the process includes name resolution, Without DNS this can't happen