I installed the standard edition of Windows Server 2008, creating the domain mydomain.localMy Vista Ultimate workstations joined the domain without any problem.However, I cannot get the XP Pro SP3 workstations to join.When trying to join the domain and entering the domain name as mydomain.local, the following message is displayed. It seems to me that the 'everything' was found.**********************DNS was successfully queried for the service location (SRV) resource record used to locate a domain controller for domain mydomain.local:The query was for the SRV record for _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.mydomain.localThe following domain controllers were identified by the query:myserver2.mydomain.localCommon causes of this error include:- Host (A) records that map the name of the domain controller to its IP addresses are missing or contain incorrect addresses.- Domain controllers registered in DNS are not connected to the network or are not running.**********************I have to think that the domain controller is running and registered since my Vista workstations are logged in.On a chance, I entered the domain as mydomain {leaving off the .local}. This asked me for the user/password with permissions to join the domain, but after entering the info for a domain admin the following was displayed.**********************RPC Server is unavailable.**********************The RPC services on both the server and workstation are running.These are the items I verified or tried:1. Workstation and server can ping each other using either the IP address or FQDN.2. Server TCP/IP settings only show its own IP address as the DNS server, no ISP DNS servers.3. Workstation TCP/IP DNS settings point to the server's IP address. I tried both the default and enabled NetBios settings.4. Workstation account is created and enabled on the server.5. ipconfig /all shows correct DNS server IPcorrect DNS suffix search listcorrect connection-specific DNS suffix5. I displayed the workstation's DNS with: ipconfig /displaydns The FQDN of the server is listed.6. I flushed the DNS cache with :ipconfig /flushdns7. I re-registered the workstation's DNS name with: ipconfig /registerdns8. The workstation's firewall (AVG) does not seem to be blocking anytthing.9. The workstation's connection specific suffix is mydomain.localI did NOT start the WINS service on the server, nor does the workstation have a WINS server setting in its TCP/IP properties because I thought WINS was un-necessary with XP and/or Vista.Is WINS the answer, or am I missing some other step?

No, WINS is not the answer. WINS is a database for Netbios names. Windows has not used Netbios names to find a logon server since NT4. W2k and later use DNS to find a logon server. The DNS query certainly looks fine. Is your DC called myserver2 ? HAve you tried using a netdom command to join the workstation to the domain?Bill

Yes the server name is correct.After your reply I tried the following:NETDOM JOIN WorkstationName /Domain:mydomain.local /UserD:AdminID /PasswordD:AdminPasswordThe response was: The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted.I know that it exists and is working because my Vista workstation is connected with the network shares correctly mapped.IPCONFIG /ALL still shows the correct server ip and DNS suffix.I read on some other forum that one person could only get it to work by un-installing and re-installing network services on the workstation.This seems kind of drastic to me.Thanks,

Problem Solved.It turned out that the AVG 7.5 firewall was blocking my connection.After disabling it, the workstation connected within 5 seconds.I was then able to turn the firewall back on without any ill effects.