Windows Forum

Ask something
Discussion Locked

No authority for ADS

0 helpful
7 replies

by blarman 2 views

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

I have a Windows 2000 Server with AD setup up as a basic file server. I also use it for various other experiments with software we are developing.

When I went to add a new user through the AD Users & Computers, I get the following error message:

Naming information cannot be located because:
No authority could be contacted for authentication.
Contact your system administrator to verify that your domain is properly configured and is currently online.

7 replies

by demongp

You have to make sure that your DNS setup on both the Domain Controllers, plus any PC's connecting to this domain is 100% correct. If you DNS is not working properly, you will not be able to contact any Domain Controllers to perform operations likethese. I will probably be able to help you to fix this, but i will need some more information.

by blarman

I think part of the problem may be that when I installed AD, I installed using an internet domain. It is our domain, but is currently hosted by someone else. There were plans to host in-house, but those have been shelved.

The current machine name is mw.mw-inc.com. I have checked the DNS settings, and I can't seem to modify anything. I can't use DCPROMO to demote the server - I get the same error message. When I try to set a SOA record, I try the "verify" and it fails.

I hope I don't have to re-install the OS, but if it comes to that, I will.

Let me know what other info you need.

by demongp

Nope, sorry, it seems like your DNS is broken too much. Let me put it this way - this is fixable, as i said before, but you will probably save yourself a lot of time and effort if you just reinstall the OS.

This time though, try to plan as farahead as possible - i.e. your DNS domain structure, your AD domain structure etc. DNS is VERY VERY important in Windows 2000 - Active Directory relies on it to located Domain Controllers. I would definately not recommend using your Internet domainas your AD domain as well, unless you really need it to be that way. Rather keep the 2 seperate as far as possible.

by blarman

Oh, well. We don't use Active Directory for anything. i had it installed for testing and training. It's apparently massively hosed, so I'll have to re-install.

Thanks for the help.

by demongp

Nope, sorry, it seems like your DNS is broken too much. Let me put it this way - this is fixable, as i said before, but you will probably save yourself a lot of time and effort if you just reinstall the OS.

This time though, try to plan as farahead as possible - i.e. your DNS domain structure, your AD domain structure etc. DNS is VERY VERY important in Windows 2000 - Active Directory relies on it to located Domain Controllers. I would definately not recommend using your Internet domainas your AD domain as well, unless you really need it to be that way. Rather keep the 2 seperate as far as possible.

This discussion is closed to new replies.