For active directory to work properly a domain controller has to be running
an active directory integrated DNS server and all clients joined to the
domain have to use this and only this DNS server. This is a simplified
version and as always there are exceptions but if you go by that rule active
directory (and Vista) will be happy. There are many other things that will
help like an active directory DHCP server, WINS server, etc. DNS is the key
factor though.
It sounds like DNS is misconfigured on their domain. I'd recommend they or
you get someone in who knows how to set up active directory. It sounds like
the missing consultant didn't do it right. XP can sort of work with NETBIOS
when AD DNS is misconfigured. Vista is much pickier. If they get DNS working
properly they will see a speed up when accessing domain resources from XP
and Vista will work.
--
Kerry Brown
MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience: Systems Administration
http://www.vistahelp.ca/phpBB2/
"Mat Brown" <matbrown@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:IPGZj.35$2C.20@xxxxxx
Quote:
> I guess first some background. I got a call from a client to come get a
> Vista laptop working on their domain. I haven't worked very much with
> domains (I have a lot of experience with workgroups, just not so much with
> domains) and even less experience with Vista. Still, it sounded like no
> problem. They have the domain running on a 2003 Server, and as much as I
> would like to sit down with the guy who set it up and find out how he had
> it configured, he's nowhere to be found, hence why they called me. The
> stage is set.
>
> First thing I discover is that the laptop is running Home Premium, so I
> have to upgrade it to Vista Ultimate. Once that's done I start by copying
> network settings off of one of the XP boxes. (All the other computers in
> the office except the server and the laptop I am working on are running XP
> Pro.) Well, Vista gives me the Domain Controller Not Found error, and I
> double check, and it has the same DNS address as the XP boxes that can
> find it, but it still can't find it. So I feed it the IP address of the
> Domain Controller for DNS and after that it can find it just fine. I
> create a new user on the Domain Controller in the same group as the other
> people in that office, and log the laptop onto the domain. So far so good.
> The domain controller also doubles as their file server, and I can get
> into the main folder that's shared out, but not all of the folders inside
> that one. I can get in to some, but not others, access is denied. I can't
> figure out any pattern to it, but it doesn't seem to be just random, it's
> consistent every time, it doesn't change with reboots, the ones I can get
> into I can always get into, the ones I cannot, I cannot ever get into. Get
> this, however, if I open the share by IP address rather than by server
> name, I can get into all of the subfolders just fine. So I map the drives
> they want mapped by IP rather than by name, and that seems to work just
> fine. Next I go to setup the printer shared off of another user's computer
> in the same room. The computer the printer is on shows up in the network
> browser, but when I try to access it I get a login dialog. I try the
> domain login for the laptop, I try the local login for the computer the
> printer is connected to, and neither of them will let me in. The thing is,
> I shouldn't need to log into that computer at all, since the printer is
> shared with all the other users in the domain. I've double and triple
> checked the user account on the server, and it appears to have the exact
> same settings as the users who can access everything properly. I can keep
> on like I have been, and find a workaround to make the printer work, but
> I'm really thinking what I've been doing is finding workarounds for the
> symptoms, there is some larger problem here, and unless I identify it and
> fix it I will keep having to fight the symptoms. I am just at a loss for
> how to fix the larger problem, or even what it really is. I'm hoping
> someone here who has had experience making Vista work in a domain will
> recognize what I've got going on and can give me some help, because I need
> some help.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>