domain to workgroup issue
 

hope someone can help with this!!
a friend of mine was given a laptop with her new job and wanted a hand to configure it to work with her home network that i setup for her.
its a dell dimension xp pro, we sorted out the internet connectivity, but had a problem finding the printer connected to another of the home pc's
i'll hold my hand up and say i did get frustrated,without engaging my brain, i changed the laptop from domain to a workgroup and was promtedto restart. as i clicked the yes option,my brain engaged...and realised there might be a problem when it came to logging back on.... and there was. it starts up as normal, gets the ctrl alt del to login option...then the uid and password.
the problem is,it wont accept the password.
i'm thinking now that pc's in a domain would athenticate to an active directory server,but we could login, from home, prior to my changing it to a workgroup, so the mistake i made should be reversible without my friend notifying the network admin at work? you guys can probably tell that i aint familiar with domains,but if there's anything i can try, without making things worse for the friend, i'd appreciate any advice

Re: domain to workgroup issue
 

Unless you know a local user/password then you have probably shot it. It can only be added back to the domain at work, by a domain administrator.

Re: domain to workgroup issue
 

thanks paul... thats what i suspected, but wasnt 100% positive....just hoping that i've not created a problem for my mates network/domain admin at work

Re: domain to workgroup issue
 

Nope they will be able to get it logged back into it's domain without many issues. Will probably give your mate a bit of a talk about changing settings though ;)

Re: domain to workgroup issue
 

When a user logs onto a machine that is a member of a domain, the machine stores a copy of the username/password - known as "cached credentials". When the user next logs on, if the domain controller for the domain cannot be contacted (because, say, the machine is a laptop and the user is on a bus), the machine uses the cached credentials to authenticate the user. By removing the machine from the domain, the cached credentials are lost and only local accounts will have access to the machine. In short, you stuffed it :D

Oh and the domain admin need never know - each domain user can add upto 10 devices to the domain. After that, you receive a message saying that you've exceeded the number. Should be able to re-add the machine without trouble. Does depend on the setup of the domain though.

Re: domain to workgroup issue
 

I'd know on my office's domain. Something can only be registered once. After that, unless I delete and recreate it can't reregister as the same name, and a new name requires me to set up the server to expect the connection, unless the connection is external to the network i.e via a VPN (assumes the user has VPN access rights).

You might still be able to logon to the PC by making sure the logon Options are selected enabling you to select the login user, password and domain.

In short it's hand in cap time to the IT admin, and hope that home use fo the lappy is something that is allowed by the IT policy (might defeat having a lappy if its not).