Hi Friends, First of all greetings to all of you, I am new to this Forum. In one of my Interview I was asked a question- I have setup a new network of 10 computer, all are joined to same domain and all are working fine. Suddenly when user tried to logon to all these systems, user was able to logon into the 9 systems, but one system was giving error "Domain not available." What can be the possible reasons for this error and how to rectify.!! Thanks..

A network error would certainly cause this to happen. Check the cable :)

Hello, could be network hardware but also DNS settings. Please post an unedited ipconfig -all from the problem machine a healthz one and the DC-DNS server. Important is NOT to use ISPs DNS server or routers ip on the domain machines NICs.Best regards Meinolf Weber MVP, MCP, MCTS Microsoft MVP - Directory Services My Blog: http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/ Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

Hi.. First of all thanks for the support Mr. Eirik, Mr. Meinolf. As I mentioned earlier this question was asked in an interview, so according to the hypothetical scenario given by the interviewer, there was no Cabling or H/w fault. Moreover we were not using the ISP's DNS. 9 systems are working absolutely fine, its just one system giving error. What else can be the reasons for the error "Domain not available." Can it be related to particular Host Account or any system security policy/protocol authentication failure.??

Hello, are the machines created from a clone/image that is not prepared with sysprep? And please again, post the requested output, help us to help you.Best regards Meinolf Weber MVP, MCP, MCTS Microsoft MVP - Directory Services My Blog: http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/ Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

Hi vckydgrt. I'd stick to the network problem, it was the first thing which came into my mind as I read the problem. As far as I know host accounts cannot interfere with domain ones, but i'm barely new to the world of servers so maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there is a GPO which stands out the maximun times a user can log over different machines?

Hi.. First of all thanks for the support Mr. Eirik, Mr. Meinolf. As I mentioned earlier this question was asked in an interview, so according to the hypothetical scenario given by the interviewer, there was no Cabling or H/w fault. Moreover we were not using the ISP's DNS. 9 systems are working absolutely fine, its just one system giving error. What else can be the reasons for the error "Domain not available." Can it be related to particular Host Account or any system security policy/protocol authentication failure.?? Domain not available Error message mainly due to client computer is not able to contact the Domain controller. So it could be a network problem. You will have to answers like this, 1. I will check the network connection of the client system 2. If the network connection is proper then I will login to the client computer with my local administrator account and check the client computer IP address and the DNS server IP address on it. 3.Try to ping Domain controller from the client system ( When local administrator account is logged in) AFAIK, Domain not available is not due any perticular host account or Protocol authentication Let us know if you have any question on this Regards, _Prashant_MCSA|MCITP SA|Microsoft Exchange 2003 Blog - http://prashant1987.wordpress.com Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS-IS with no warranties/guarantees and confers no rights. Email-giteepag@yahoo.co.in

Hi All, I am doubting that in such scenario, where only one system is showing "Domain not available" although Network seems to be well connected. Can it be due to the Secure Channel b/w that particular System and DC might have broken..??? Can anybody throw some light on this..?

Hello, This type of error I would say is caused by DNS because all other pc's on the network are fine and you stae the network connectivity is fine, right?. regardless, here's how to troubleshoot it: 1. Ping the default gateway to make sure you have connectivity. If you cannot ping the gateway, check LAN connectivity. 2. Ping the DC to make sure you can connect to it using its FQDN (server.domain.local) and try pinging the DC's netbios name as well. If you cannot ping the DC's FQDN, check the NIC's IP settings and make sure that the DNS settings are pointing to your local DNS server. Also check the DNS client in your services.msc and make sure it's running. 3. Are you joining the domain using the Domain's netbios name or a domain name? Try joining the domain both ways. If you can join the domain using domain.local but not domain, then check your Netbios connectivity. 4. Check that you are entering the correct domain or domain netbios name. Here's how to look up the domain name: http://www.lansweeper.com/kb/findnetbiosname.aspx 5. If you want help, please follow directions. When a forum user asks for an ipconfig /a, please do it. Avoiding his request and asking more questions is prolonging the troubleshooting process. Miguel Fra / Falcon IT Services Computer & Network Support, Miami, FL Visit our Knowledgebase and Support Sharepoint Site

Hi All.. First of all thanks for the help Mr. Miguel. I apologize Mr. Miguel (Falcon IT Services) for any inconvenience created. I had already explained in my 2nd comment given on "Thursday, April 12, 2012 11:40 AM" that, this was one of the interview questions I was asked and all this was a Hypothetical Scenario. So I can't provide all the details like - ipconfig /a. I was just trying to know all the valid anwers/troubleshootings from the Interview perspective, there was no such intention to prolong the troubleshooting process.

definitely network related for the single machine. DNS, no network connectivity, no IP address configured to the machine (DHCP or static), firewall enabled with all ports closed, and this is just naming a few of the many items related to the lack of network communication to the DC for authentication.