Windows 98 SE machines cannot find domain server - please help me out here.

[ddeder]

First a little background:

My customer has a peer-to-peer network with four computers. Three are running Windows 98 SE and the fourth has Windows XP Home. He just bought some new, very expensive software which requires a dedicated server. Windows 2000 Server is recommended by the software maker. I built a new box and installed Windows 2000 Server on it. I then plugged it into the network. The domain name on the server is SERVER1.MAIN. I installed AD on the server.

This is where I start to lose it...

In the AD on the server, I add a computer called "Daniel" and a user with a logon id of "Daniel". I supply a password for the user.

On one of the the Windows 98 SE machines, I go into the properties for Client for Microsoft Networks and put a checkmark next to Log on to Windows NT domain. I specify the domain name as SERVER1.MAIN. At the bottom of this screen, I tell it to Log on and restore network connections. I then reboot. (The name of this computer is DANIEL and the workgroup is set to server1.main). All other network settings (such as IP addresses, WINS configuration, DNS configuration, etc...) are set to default - I have not modified them.

Upon rebooting, I get the prompt to enter my password for Microsoft Networking. I enter my password and press the OK button. The computer thinks for a few seconds and then returns the following:

"No domain server was available to validate your password. You may not be able to gain access to some network resources."

At this point, regardless of whether I press OK or Cancel, the computer continues to boot to Windows 98. Once in Windows 98, the server shows up in Network Neighborhood and the Windows 98 SE machine shows up in My Network Places on the Server. So why the error message? Did I join the domain or not? Is there some other piece that I am missing here?

Any help would be appreciated.

And, yes, I realize that I am in over my head - that is why I am here...

 

[Gantry]

Some "I think though am not a guru on Win2k networking" ideas:

1) Pretty sure you do not have to add Win9x machines to a domain, that's more for the NT/2k/XP

2) Old OSes login to Win2k domains with first part of the domain name. In your case you would configure Win98 to log into the SERVER1 domain, not SERVER1.MAIN. On that note, why would you name a domain SERVER1? You sure that's the actual domain name?

3) XP Home cannot log into a domain, so you may have trouble there

4) To simply things initially, especially concerning DNS, install NetBEUI on the workstations and server

Now the people who really know can correct my mistakes...

 

[ddeder]

I know that Windows 98 machines don't have to be added to the domain, it is just that the software maker recommends that they are added to the domain.

The actual domain name is SERVER1.MAIN - I named it that myself. This network does not have an internet connection.

I understand that a Windows XP Home machine cannot be added to a domain.

I did change the name of the domain on the Windows 98 SE machine from SERVER1.MAIN to just SERVER1. Upon rebooting, I get the same message "No domain server was available...".

 

[jungle]

this may sound obvious but it may very will be one of these simple things causing the hang up....

-make sure the ip address is correct, in the same subnet, sceem
-did u enter the wins, gateway, dns, addresses?
-r u using the old domain name? ie mydomain instead of mydomain.net
-client for ms networks is installed? and configured for the domain
-primary network logon is "cliend for ms networks

 

[Thor86]

I'm just guessing on this, but it's worth a shot.

In Win2k AD, there are two modes of operation, and I believe you need to use the backward compatible 'mixed' mode for NT/Win9X domain logins. If you setup Win2k AD in the 'native' mode for 2000 OSes only, then I don't believe you will have any success trying to login to the AD domain under NT/Win9X.