RPC Server Unavailable When Joining a Domain with NETDOM (186818)

SYMPTOMS

The Window NT 4.0 Resource Kit Supplement III includes a command line utility called NETDOM (v 1.7) that allows the administrator to join a domain from a command prompt.

The command line can be run locally on the workstation or also remotely. The following error message may appear when NETDOM tries to query domain information on the workstation remotely:

The RPC server is unavailable.

CAUSE

This error is caused because the administrator of the domain does not have administrative access on the workstation (recall that the passwords are different).

The following scenario leads to the problem:

The domain is DOMAIN and the PDC is DOMAINPDC.
Install a Windows NT Workstation as \\DOMAINMEMBER in a workgroup.
Make sure the workstation administrator account password and domain administrator account passwords are different.

On the PDC, log on as the administrator and send the following command line:

NETDOM /DOMAIN:DOMAIN MEMBER \\DOMAINMEMBER /JOINDOMAIN

The output is as follows:

   Searching PDC for domain DOMAIN ...
   Found PDC \\DOMAINPDC
   Querying domain information on PDC \\DOMAINPDC ...
   Querying domain information on computer \\DOMAINMEMBER ...
   The RPC Server is unavailable.

RESOLUTION

Use one of the following workarounds:

Before giving the NETDOM command, connect to the workstation with administrative access:

NET USE \\DOMAINMEMBER\IPC$ /USER:DOMAINMEMBER\ADMINISTRATOR password
Run NETDOM locally (that is, on the workstation).

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about NETDOM, please see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

ARTICLE ID: 150493
TITLE : How To Join a Domain From the Command Line