Network / Server Project Help - Logging in As Client Problem.

Cyraxx

Supreme [H]ardness
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Feb 21, 2005
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Hey folks, I have a project for my network class we just got assigned that I am trying to beat so I can enjoy the weekend. The project is simply to set some permissions on files on a virtual server, then login with some client accounts to test that they are set. I have set the permissions and such, and am now trying to login to the clients and that is where I am stuck.

I am attempting to login as the User's, in this case Moria Cowan, and I get the error message "The System cannot log you on now because the domain ACMETOOLS is not available". However, I find this quite odd, because I am able to log in with the Administrator account onto the domain. I am confused because the error message to me signifys that the computer cannot find the domain, meaning the Computer is not on the domain, yet the Administrator can find it just fine. I triple checked the credentials of the login and even tried different usernames, but I still get the same error message.

One thing I noticed was the virtual network connection on the client isn't working as it says "Limited or no connectivity". I'm not sure if this is the cause of the problem since the Administrator is able to log on, but I would guess it's possible since it needs a connection to the server to authenticate properly. I attempted to use the Network Identification Wizard on the XP Client, and it says "Windows cannot find an account for your computer on the ACMETOOLS domain, even though I am currently logged in on it as Administrator on the client computer. So I am kind of at a loss as of what to do, any help is appreciated. I've looked around a lot and some have suggested it could be a DNS issue.
 
if you logged in with the domain admin acct while everything was working, the comptuer cached the credentials.
So, once the credentials are cached, you can continue to log in with that account, regardless of network connectivity to the domain.

The reason you cannot login with this "new" user, is because their credentials are not cached on the local box, and the DC cannot be contacted to verify authentication.

Log in with the admin account (which admin acct? you never specifically stated... local box Administrator account? some domain admin account called Administrator?), and clear up the limited or no connectivity issues first.

Limited or no connectivity error messages relates to the PC not being able to contact a DHCP server to get an IP.
 
if you logged in with the domain admin acct while everything was working, the comptuer cached the credentials.
So, once the credentials are cached, you can continue to log in with that account, regardless of network connectivity to the domain.

The reason you cannot login with this "new" user, is because their credentials are not cached on the local box, and the DC cannot be contacted to verify authentication.

Log in with the admin account (which admin acct? you never specifically stated... local box Administrator account? some domain admin account called Administrator?), and clear up the limited or no connectivity issues first.

Limited or no connectivity error messages relates to the PC not being able to contact a DHCP server to get an IP.

Done and Done with the Limited Connectivity problem - I set the TCP / IP settings DNS etc.. as the same as the server, and that cleared it up. However I still get the same error message when I try to login to a client account. As for the Administrator account I believe it's a domain account called Administrator, since im still loging into the domain and not the computer.

That makes sense as to why I am able to login with the Administrator - whats next? I appreciate the help! :eek:
 
I remember Moria Cowan! Is she still an accountant? I don't have much experience with this stuff, so I probably wouldn't be much help, just found it funny you are using some form of the book I did in school.
 
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I remember Moria Cowan! Is she still an accountant? lol. I don't have much experience with this stuff, so I probably wouldn't be much help, just found it funny you are using some form of the book I did in school

Indeed :D.
 
Seems like your going to have to login with Ms. Cowan locally so that her credentials are stored on the dc. Do you have remote access to that machine?

incorrect.

well, yes and no. If you log on with that acct on the DC, the credentials are only cached on the DC, and have absolutely no effect on the member-box.

What admin account were you using on the member-box?

Remember to set the DNS setting on the workstation PC to the same IP as the domain controller.
 
incorrect.

well, yes and no. If you log on with that acct on the DC, the credentials are only cached on the DC, and have absolutely no effect on the member-box.

What admin account were you using on the member-box?

What do you mean by member-box? Im a bit confused here. The login for the Client? I assume I am using the default Administrator of the server login.

Remember to set the DNS setting on the workstation PC to the same IP as the domain controller.

Yeah figured that out - other than the IP address which should be something different, right? Either way the limited connectivity problems are gone.
 
correct, you only need 1 DNS server, and it needs to point to the DC.
The IP of the desktop, of course, needs to be something different. If the DNS IP is NOT the DC's IP, login attempts can fail with the "Cannot find the domain" error message. Even if the DNS IP is a good IP, and you can reach the interwebs, domain login attempts will fail if it is not pointing to the DC.


I assume you have, basically, a lab setup, with a domain controller, and additional PC that is joined to the domain; correct?
by member-box, I mean the PC (whether it be a VM or physical machine) that is joined to the domain.

can you ping the domain controller? Log in to the DC, and verify the PC is listed somewhere in AD, and that the computer account is not disabled.

When you're logging in as Administrator, what does the "Log on to" say? The domain? The computer name with "(This computer)" at the end? If you don't see that option, click the "Options" button on the logon screen.
 
correct, you only need 1 DNS server, and it needs to point to the DC.
The IP of the desktop, of course, needs to be something different. If the DNS IP is NOT the DC's IP, login attempts can fail with the "Cannot find the domain" error message. Even if the DNS IP is a good IP, and you can reach the interwebs, domain login attempts will fail if it is not pointing to the DC.


I assume you have, basically, a lab setup, with a domain controller, and additional PC that is joined to the domain; correct?
by member-box, I mean the PC (whether it be a VM or physical machine) that is joined to the domain.

That all looks correct.

can you ping the domain controller? Log in to the DC, and verify the PC is listed somewhere in AD, and that the computer account is not disabled.
Confirmed - Computer account is there and not disabled - I have removed and readded it a few times with the same result

When you're logging in as Administrator, what does the "Log on to" say? The domain? The computer name with "(This computer)" at the end? If you don't see that option, click the "Options" button on the logon screen.

It's logging into the domain Called ACMETOOLS, not This Computer. But like I said, when I try to change stuff - say the computer name for example - It will prompt for user / password with permissions. Naturally I put in the Administrator I just logged into yet it says "The following error ocurred when attempting to rename this computer: The specified domain either does not exist or cannot be contacted" - even though I JUST logged in with the box saying ACMETOOLS
 
hmm...

only thing I can think of, is DNS is pooched.
is the DC doing DHCP? What's doing DHCP? I know you manually configured the IP settings on the desktop, but curious about this since it should very well be working.

It's logging into the domain Called ACMETOOLS, not This Computer. But like I said, when I try to change stuff - say the computer name for example - It will prompt for user / password with permissions. Naturally I put in the Administrator I just logged into yet it says "The following error ocurred when attempting to rename this computer: The specified domain either does not exist or cannot be contacted" - even though I JUST logged in with the box saying ACMETOOLS

as I mentioned earlier, once you successfully log on to a domain-member computer, Windows caches the logon credentials so that you can continue to logon with those same domain credentials, regardless of network connectivity to the domain. This is why you can continue to login with that account, is because Windows cached the credentials.
 
hmm...

only thing I can think of, is DNS is pooched.
is the DC doing DHCP? What's doing DHCP? I know you manually configured the IP settings on the desktop, but curious about this since it should very well be working.



as I mentioned earlier, once you successfully log on to a domain-member computer, Windows caches the logon credentials so that you can continue to logon with those same domain credentials, regardless of network connectivity to the domain. This is why you can continue to login with that account, is because Windows cached the credentials.

Yeah the DC is doing DHCP - DNS, DHCP, DC / AD, and File Server are all setup according to manage your server. Man I feel so stumped - I emailed my professor anyways even though I don't expect a response - he just yesterday had to skip out because hes having some problems with his mother in the hospital. So anything you got please feel free I'll try anything ;)
 
Yeah the DC is doing DHCP - DNS, DHCP, DC / AD, and File Server are all setup according to manage your server. Man I feel so stumped - I emailed my professor anyways even though I don't expect a response - he just yesterday had to skip out because hes having some problems with his mother in the hospital. So anything you got please feel free I'll try anything ;)

ok, so since the DC is doing DHCP, and your desktop was failing to receive an IP, try to resolve that.

if the DC is doing DHCP there is absolutely no reason you should have to manually configure an IP address on the desktop.

and just for the hell of it... what's the IP of the DC, and what did you set the DNS server to on the desktop?
 
ok, so since the DC is doing DHCP, and your desktop was failing to receive an IP, try to resolve that.

if the DC is doing DHCP there is absolutely no reason you should have to manually configure an IP address on the desktop.

and just for the hell of it... what's the IP of the DC, and what did you set the DNS server to on the desktop?

When I tell it to obtain it's own IP instead of manually entering - it cannot get an IP. The IP of the DC DNS and DHCP is all 10.1.1.1 I believe.
 
you have access to the DC, correct?
verify DHCP services are running. Try rebooting the DC? Not that rebooting a DC for something like this is good practice, only as a last resort.

I would first figure out why DHCP isn't working. Since it's not, something else could be borked, and may not be a desktop issue, rather a DC/server issue.
 
you have access to the DC, correct?
verify DHCP services are running. Try rebooting the DC? Not that rebooting a DC for something like this is good practice, only as a last resort.

I would first figure out why DHCP isn't working. Since it's not, something else could be borked, and may not be a desktop issue, rather a DC/server issue.

I checked under Services.msc - and DHCP wasn't a service running. I suppose that's a problem? Either way im kind of tired of this mess with all the stuff I have tried, so im just going to go back to the startup files and use my batch files to get back to where I was. Will report back if the same problem occurs if my computer isn't dead from stabbing it.
 
I checked under Services.msc - and DHCP wasn't a service running. I suppose that's a problem?

ummm... yup. That would explain the limited or no connectvity when the desktop was set to obtain IP via DHCP.
start the service, change IP settings back to obtain via DHCP, try again.

was the service disabled or still set to automatic?
 
It wasn't listed under service roles at all - which is a head scratcher since DHCP was CLEARLY under Server roles. Either way I redid it from the original template and it seems to be working. Very odd though.
 
Okay now that we have that situated - next part is Print Server.

I have setup 2 printers along with print pooling between the two on different ports. The part I am having trouble with is stating that there should only be one printer for both printers that the clients print to. I assumed that Print Pooling automatically went to the other printer to even out prints. So logically on the client I told it to print 3 times expecting 2 prints to show up on the default printer, and 1 on the other printer. But it puts all 3 on the one printer. Am I doing something wrong? Is there a way to create a "Virtual" printer that then distributes it to the actual printers?
 
can't help ya there... never dealt with printer pooling myself.
 
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