We are in the process of decommissioning WINS. As a part of that we recently removed the DHCP options 044 and 046 from all our DHCP scopes, meaning that our DHCP clientsare notable to use WINS name resolution anymore.There is a single issue that we need a workaround for. We are using a preconfigured build for our XP clients, and this build includes a sysprep.inf file where the domain is referenced using its NetBIOS name in the JoinDomain parameter. Without WINS name resolution the clients are not able to join the domain during the build process. We already verified that it works fine when we change the domain name to the FQDN in the syspref.inf file, however, the current build has been distributed to various distribution points and vendors, and it will not be refreshed for another 2 months.Is there a way to come up with a surrogate DNS record that will allow the XP clients to resolve and join the domain using its NetBIOS name without WINS name resolution in place? I already tried to configure a CNAME for the domain's NetBIOS name in DNS but that didn't help. Please note that we cannot customise the current XP build, so any kind of workaround has to be a server-side one.ThanksOlli

Hello, Thank you for your post here. From the description, you use the NetBIOS name of the domain name in the system deployment media. You want to know whether there is a workaround to resolve single label name of the domain instead of refresh the installation media. You may check how it work if you enable the DHCP option 015 to distributed "connection-specific DNS suffix" to domain clients. If the clients has the "connection-specific DNS suffix" such as mydomain.local, I believe the client will automatically append the suffix for name resolution and it will be the workaround for single label name resolution. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Hi MilesThank you for your reply. We already use DHCP option 015 to distribute a DNS suffix to the client that is identical to the AD domain name, however, that does not help. Please read my request again carefully. This is not about resolving host names - this is about resolving the NetBIOS name of the domain without WINS name resolution in place. Let me give you an example.ADDNSdomain name = ads.domain.localNetBIOS domain name = ADSClients are configured using DHCP, using option 015 with a value of ads.domain.local, option 006 with two valid AD-integrated DNS servers, and of course option 003 with a valid default gateway address, butno WINS name resolution options 044 or 046.If JoinDomain=ADS is supplied in syspref.inf and cannot be changed easily, how can we make our DHCP clients resolve the NetBIOS domain name ADS without using WINS name resolution? Any suitable workaround is considered.ThanksOlli

Hello, Thanks for the update. Yes, I totally understand your issue. The reason why I suggest you to check whether it will help when you distribute the "connection-specific DNS suffix" is that I though Windows may recursively resolve the domain Netbios name (single label name or top level domain name) with domain suffix. For example: When you attempt to resolve the single label name: ADS First attempt: ads.ads.domain.local Second attempt: ads.domain.local From my test, it seems that Windows will not try to resolve the name recursively for top level domain name (single label name). It will try ads.ads.domain.local only. According to my further investigation, it seems that Domain Join API will never try DNS resolution if you provide the domain NetBIOS name. It will try NetBIOS over TCP/IP only even when there is ADS entry in the HOST file. In the other word, without NetBIOS I don't think you will be able to join clients to the domain by domain NetBIOS name only. As a workaround, I'd like to know whether you have the NetBIOS over TCP/IP enabled on the clients and DC. Without WINS name server and WINS name resolution (P node), you consider to set the clients to use B node (NetBIOS name resolution via broadcast).

Hi MilesThanks again for your reply. I suspected as much that trying only NetBIOS name resolution is hardcoded in the Domain Join API. Too bad that there is no simple workaround.Although NetBIOS over TCP/IP is still enabled on the clients and DCs, NetBIOS name resolution via broadcast is not an option as clients will be installed in different subnets all over the country, and we only have DCs in a few hub sites.Thanks anywayOlli

Hi, Thanks for the update. Yes, it will be tough for those sites without DCs.If you have any questions or concerns in the future, please do not hesitate to let us know. Thanks.