Hi I feel so dumb, I have installed my server... made sure all drivers work, registered it with MS.... installed DNS/AD making it a domain controller and now none of my password/ username combinations work, not one! Is this a new security feature or what!!! Any sugestions other than hacking the local sam/ or re-installing the server. Thanks Walter

I am pretty sure that there should be only one set of credentials that work, and that is the original "administrator" account. Other than that, the local accounts do not have rights (only domain accounts can log into a domain controller) - so you will actually have to hack the domain account... You could log in under directory restore mode and try to demote the server... I am not sure if you will be able to do that. Since it is a single server, re-installing may be quicker - it will definately be the method with a known amount of required time to complete... Luck,

Hello Walter, The local Security Accounts Manager (SAM) is no longer used once Windows Server operating system is promoted to a domain controller. When the new domain controller is the first domain controller in a new domain, local users in SAM will be migrated to the Active Directory database during the promotion. So you can directly log on to the domain using the former local user. As Aaron mentioned, if you want to logon using local user account on a domain controller, try to log in under Active Directory Services Restore mode or the Recovery Console. Hope it helps.

Hi I have no clue, I meen I've tried to log-on using all know users and password combinations even the domanin and administrators account but nothing worked.... this is very frustrating. I'm not sure I likeWindows 2008 How do I login under Active Directory Restore Mode.....what is this? Regards Walter

To restart in Directory Services Restore Mode (2003): http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/403ac7a9-395a-4c21-971f-9c3b6f4563631033.mspx?mfr=true In case you have a backup: http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/778ff4c7-623d-4475-ba70-4453f964d4911033.mspx?mfr=true http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/494ff831-ddb7-4c50-aa3d-19c8deb84efb1033.mspx?mfr=true Luck,

Thanks for all the help, i realy apriciate it. Perhaps I do something wrong..... 1 In stall OS 2 Configure hardware 3 Set fixed IP 4 Run Active Directory Wizard setup in Add Features Wizard 5 Run DCPROMO.exe 6 Reboot After this I can't login with my passwords..........

The user account that you first enter when you install the OS will become the default "administrator" of the machine. When you run DCPROMO.exe, this user account will become the default "administrator" of the domian. The username and password should work. If they do not work, then there is something really wrong with your system and you are going to have to restore from backup or re-install.

Are you logging in with the new domain name and not the name of the box Domainname\Username instead of Machinename\username