I have installed active directory on my windows 2008 server, and I am trying to add a xp machine to the domain. But everytime I try to put the pc into the windows 2008 domain I get the error "A domain controller for the domain ***.local could not be contacted. Ensure that the domain name is typed correctly." Any ideas?

Are the machines in the same network? What is the client using for a DNS address? What happens if you do an nslookup of the domain name from the client? Bill

Hello, Please paste IPconfig /all from the DC and clients.

There is only one server and one workstation. I'm running them as a test before I actually try to implement anything. They are on the same network they are both connected to the same switch that's connected to a router and so on. The DNS address for the workstation looks like its 68.87.68.162 and 64.238.96.12 The DNS Suffix is localdomain. nslookup img http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab317/The_dumb_I_T_Guy/AD/nslookup.jpg Server img http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab317/The_dumb_I_T_Guy/AD/server.jpg Workstation img http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab317/The_dumb_I_T_Guy/AD/testworkstation.jpg

To use Active Directory, clients must use the local DNS server. The DNS server at your ISP will not have the records necessary for AD to work. Set your client to use the DC ONLY for DNS. YOu will need to modify this local DNS server (on your DC) to forward to a public DNS server (such as the one at your ISP) to resolve foreign URLs. Do not put this server's IP as a DNS address on the client, even as a secondary. The client should have the DC's IP address only. Bill

Okay... How? By that I mean is there a book I can get to teach me, or a online resource that goes through this. I tried Google but most of the sites was giving general answers to specific questions.

I am not aware of any resource which would give you a step by step guide for that. Books on Active Directory assume a basic knowledge of networking and name resolution. I would suggest that you start with a simple network with no Internet connection. Give the DC a private IP address in its own IP subnet. Allow dcpromo to configure DNS for you. Give the client an IP address in the same IP subnet as the server and set its DNS address to the IP address of the server. This is all you need to learn the basics of AD. Active Directory uses DNS to find domain resources, so all domain machines need to use the local DNS (the one created by dcpromo above) to find AD resources including how to find the DC. Connecting a private domain to the Internet is another problem, and there is really no simple answer. It depends on how you connect to the Internet and whether this is your only network. For instance you may want to run this domain network inside a standard network connected through a SOHO "router", or you might want to connect the domain network directly to the Internet. Connecting the DC directly to the Internet is not recommended. Bill