Need to connect PC to Server after server reload of OS

Join the machine back into the domain.
Log on as the user then log off
Log on as local admin
Right click on my computer, advanced, and under user profiles select SETTINGS
Use the COPY TO to copy the old user profile to the new user profile - don't forget to set the 'Permitted to use' option to everyone to avoid permissions problems between the old and new accounts

Hello weellio...thanks for the information....I was afraid that was the case.

How do I remove the PCs and then reconnect them without loosing the user settings and passwords that are on the PC now...The one PC I took back to workgroup too me a couple of days to recover.
Addie

another person similar issue..
http://www.techtalkz.com/windows-2000-server/86898-only-dc-crashed-best-way-restore.html

http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-1460995.php

hello KCTS...thanks for the information.

do I join the domain logged on as the user or admin...And how do I set the permissions...How will I know what the old user profile is...How do I know what the domain is on the server?

When I go START>PROGRAMS>Administrative Tools>DNS>     the little icon has that represents the server has 1PMUSTANGGA there and the forward zones has a lot of things listed with various versions of pmustang used

Addie

kcts's way will copy the existing profiles and once you have your domain up and running you can copy the individual profile setting back to the profile locations.

technicall you can just go to documents and setting(on the individual machines) and copy all the indivudual profiles to a centralized location.  then once you have the associated account in place and logged in at least once, overwrite the newly created profile with the already existing ones.... this maaaaaay cause some issues, depending on how the applications on the machines were programmed, but this could also restore a lot of the settings.

Thanks weellio,

If I go to the pc that is now recovered and is a workstation,  I go to the restored user profile under the Documents and Settings folder and copy it to another folder, say profileBkUp...right?  As the user or as an Admin?
Then add the pc to the domain ... where do I locate the domain name on the server?
logoff...logon as user...logoff...logon as Admin then copy the profile to the new profile?...how willI know that it is a new profile/

the name will be the name of the user that logged onto the box.  
do you have an acrtice directory domain? local or roaming profiles?  if local, then the only place will be on the boxes, if roaming, then you should know, because you will have to designate the locations.

weellio,
These are desktop pcs and are fixed to their physical sites...no roaming.
I do not know if I have an active directory domain...how do I find out?
how do I determine the name of the domain on the server so that I can add the pc to it

roaming refers to the user accounts, not the computers. meaning that any person can log into any box and have all their settings follow them.

when you create the domain it asks you for a name.  and if you created a domain , you would have to setup active directory, thus answering your questions.

did you ever have a domain setup?

read this
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324753

I do not know if I set the domain up correctly, but I tried...I got very confused when it got to the part about zones and now there are 5 of them...I read the microsoft KB/324753 paper, but it states that it is for a lab (like a training lab I think) so it did not make a lot of since to me...where do I find the name of the domain if it was created?
All of the PCs have just one user and the admin set up on them, so I guess that there are no roaming accounts.
Thank you for your patience with me...and believe it or not I am learning!!
Addie

what is dcpromo?  I am not sure what is suppose to happen when I go START>RUN>dcpromo
Addie

if you never did that, then you don't have a domain. that is the program that creates the domains

do you need a domain?

what is it you are trying to attain?
if each computer has only one user and there are only 4 computers, then you don't need a domain configured.

fyi
in the article i sent you to read, step 6 is where you name the domain.

weellio,
Sorry it has taken me a bit of time to respond to you.  I really do not want a domain..DNS...Active Directory or any of those things...What I have is a Dell 2850 server running Windows Server 2003 as the OS.  On this machine is Windows SQL Server 2000.  All I want to do is be able to access the SQL database PMCustomers...table CUSTINFO.  I developed an excel form used as an invoice with the help of a lot of the folks on this site(you are all great!!).  This form searched the db and returns customer data if present amd also inserts into and updates the customer information in the same db.  Hope this helps you understand what I need.
Addie

ok that is simple enough,.
you don't need a domain setup for that you can use a workgroup setting
just set up the SQL security and make sure the excel sheet  has the right user/password information in it, or the odbc has the correct information in it,.

ok, but I cannot ping the server from the workstation or see it on network neighborhood...do I need to reload the server 2003 OS ro is there a way to remove all of the attempted try to configure the server?
Addie

let's just try to work with what we have,..
did you successfully run the DCPROMO?

goto control panel and double-click on the "system" icon
what is the computername od the server as it is listed?

you should have the server with a specific hardcoded IP address. have you set this?

did you try to install DNS?
did you try to install any roles on the server? if so, which ones?

Weellio,
I have not run DCPROMO as I was afraid of what it might do since I attempted to do the the configuration through Manage Your Server....IMamage Your Server shows DHCO, DNS, Domain Controller (Active Directory), Remote Access/VPN Server and Print server...

The IP address of the physical server box is 192.168.1.2 ... Subnet Mask  255.255.255.0

The computer name from the system folder is PMUSTANG.PMUSTANGGA and the domain is listed as PMUSTANGGA.local

it looks like you created the domain via "manage your server"

the domain name is PMUSTANGGA
assuming you have a router, you can have the router do dns and dhcp. unless you really want to configure that yourself through the server.

click start-run "dsa.msc" this should open up "active directory users and computers".

look for "PMUSTANGGA.local" do you see this?
if so, then you have active directory set-up
this makes things easier if it does.

domains allow more flexibility than workgroups.

you will need to setup user accounts for each user

you will need to create groups within the domain to provide access for the users.

then you will need to add the computers to the domain

and you will need to give the users proper access to these computers via group membership

some reading in case you aren' t aware how to do these things

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295017
http://www.petri.co.il/joining_a_domain_in_windows_xp_pro.htm

http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_install_active_directory_on_windows_2003.htm

http://www.visualwin.com/AD-XP/
http://www.visualwin.com/New-User-AD/

when I gor START>RUN>dsa.msc  The Active Directory Users and Computers opens up...There I see a symbol that looks like a server with PMUSTANGGA.local showing these folders  Builtin, Computers, Domain Controllers, ForeignSecurityPrincipals, and Users.

on the right side of the screen with Users selected I see 23 objects

good,

create a user for each person that will logonto any computers.
http://www.visualwin.com/New-User-AD/

most place have a standard set in place.

where i work we use
first initial, second initial and first five letters of the last name.
thus my "weellio"

ok...the pc that is used on the front counter has the user as shipper and the computer name is PRESTIGE3

On the new object - user what is the second part of the user logon name  ...  in the example that you point me to it shows @hello.test   ...   is this PMUSTANGGA.local?

also if I want them to use the same logon password for the domain as the pc can I do this, or does it have to be a different password

it should be PMUSTANGGA.local
or just PMUSTANGGA.

and this will be the login they use for the pc, the other one will go away.

at that point we will copy the profiles, so that we will be able to keep the settings for the users

I tried to remove one of the PCs from the domain (the server was dead at that time) while it was still connected to the network and lost all of the user profiles and settings, is this why?

because the user settings were stored on the domain, not the local computers.  

no domain = no domain profiles

normally when making a domain you want redundancy. it is suggested that you have 4 servers when making a domain.

2 for the rooter domain and two for the sub domain. the subdomain is where you wil do all your user and computer accounts.  and if you lose the sub domain you can alwas recreate from the root,. if you lose the root, thn you will have to atart all the way over,.(which is what you seem to be doing)

read this
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/9c0f86c4-def6-42f5-9c1d-a9292b4905821033.mspx?mfr=true




you may want to backuup your DC once you have it up and running, so that you won't have this issue again.

sorry my fingers don't liek to go where i want them to go,. see if you can read through the typos'

weellio,  
It seems that I get FFS (fat finger sillies) when i am typing so I have learned to read my own typos so yours are a walk in the park.  I really do thank you for this help and I know that it is taking a while...but I need to try and keep my job and this was dumped onto me because I have some computer knowledge

The 2nd PC that I took back to workgroup I had help from this site in another question and found out that I must remove the network cable before I remove the PC from the domain...this one went without the problems of the previous one....The previous "IT/computer" person was let go due to unscruplous work and there has been strange applets found on the PCs...I am almost to believe that the virus/worm/trojon that took the server down was introduced by the EX to cause problems.  There has not been any backups done as the users, who do not know computers, were told that it was 'automatic'...not so.

So I now have 2 users configured...one is lela@PMUSTANGGA.local and the other shipper@PMUSTANGGA.local.....they have passwords that must be changed by the Administrator.

Do I need to set up the computers in the Active directory?  I think I tried to, but do not know if that will cause problems or not when we connect the PCs to the server.

And Backups are now MANDATORY!!  I will not go through this again...nor do I want anyone else to have to go through this...This Dell 2850 server is set up as a raid 5, but does not have a CD-writer only a reader...any suggestions on what to use as the backup device...but this will come after we get this up.
Thanks
Addie

"you will need to setup user accounts for each user" ... completed for 2 users

"you will need to create groups within the domain to provide access for the users." ... This is next ?How

"then you will need to add the computers to the domain"... Am reading the information you suggested on this  one...

"and you will need to give the users proper access to these computers via group membership"  How?

Addie

when you add the computers to the domain they will be added to active directory. since i work in a large organization i usually script this process or add them first, but you don't need to do that part.

creating a new group is jsut like creating a new user, but thinking about it, you can just utilize the domain users group.
make sure each user account is in the domain users group(should be there by default)

since you want to keep the settings for the users on their individual computers, you should make sure you have a copy of their profiles (although the original should still be there when you login)

once you have the computers added to the domain you will need to add the domain users group to the local 'users' group
to do this you will be logged into the xp machine with the administrator account
right-click on my computer and click manage
expand 'local users and groups'
click groups
double click on the 'users' group
make sure PMUSTANGGA\domain users is there


then logoff and try to login with the users account that you made in active directory.

as far as a backupdevice i suggest a dvd burner or a dvd burner and an external harddrive

Ok...I think I understand some of this, but on this point
"since you want to keep the settings for the users on their individual computers, you should make sure you have a copy of their profiles (although the original should still be there when you login)"
Where do I find the profiles and how do I back them up...can this be done to a USB finger drive?
What all needs to be backed up before I add the PC into the domain?

the stuff for the indicvidual users under
c:\documents and settings

and it depends on how much dat athey have to whether or not it will fit on a fingerdrive

weellio,
I am real nervous about putting the PCs onto the server...I was looking at the server configuration and saw 5 items listed under reverse zones...all of them has some form of pmustangga in the name.  What are the zones...do I need zones...can I get rid of the ones that are there?
There is nothing under the reverse zones.  Should there be?
Also, do I have to have the server be a DHCP?  I think it is now, but the router is one too, I think.  How do I remove the DHCP from the server?
Addie

remove DNS and the DHCP from the server configuration.. the router should suffice for this.
(zones are part of DNS)

i could tell you how to configure this if you would like. in my home setup i have my router doing the dhcp and the server running the DNS, but that was because i was just playing with the settings.

hello weellio,
you have helped me get the dns ready, so I will stay with that on the server...but how do I remove the dhcp?  
also, what about the forward and reverse zones...I do not understand what they are and how they need to be configured.
addie

weellio,
I tried to add a windows YP pro to the server and it came back server not found...I still cannot ping the server from the pc...What do I do now?

to use DNS you need to first have specified the following in the tcp/ip setting on ther server.
the ipaddress for the server = 192.168.1.2
subnet  = 255.255.255.0
default gateway = 192.168.1.1
preferred DNS server = 192.168.1.2

the zones are the DNS... if improperlly configured then nothign on the network will be able to see eachother.
within your forwards lookup zones you should have the following
_msdcs.PMUSTANGGA.local and PMUSTANGGA.local

within your reverse lookup zones you should have the following
192.168.1.x subnet

they translate the name to the ipaddress for you,..

the forward look up zones say
PMUSTANG.PMUSTANGGA.local = 192.168.1.2

the reverse look up zones say
192.168.1.2 = PMUSTANG.PMUSTANGGA.local

also you will have to reconfigure the router to tell the DHCP computers that they will need to talk to the server to get the DNS information.

here is some reading material

DNS FAQ's
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291382

dns step by step
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/814591

dns /tcp configuring for AD
http://www.petri.co.il/create_a_new_dns_server_for_ad.htm

Thanks!!  weellio...I wish that there was a way to give you more than the 500 points, you have been great.
It looks like I can finally ping the server box from the PCs so Now I get to see if I can get the application on the PCs to connect...but if I have a problem there it would be a different question.
Again thanks for everything
Addie