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XP Professional as Domain

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by digital_dna 1 view

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Is it possible to setup a Windows XP Professional machine as a domain controller? I heard that it was. A person I spoke with said you have to do this during the installation of Windows XP Pro.

Everything I've read says you need Windows 2000 Server or another server OS. If this is possible how can I do it?

Links are good..

Regards
ebcdic

5 replies

by timwalsh

The short answer is no. XP Professional is a desktop operating system, not a network (server) operating system. There is no way to turn XP into a domain controller (DC).

You are correct that you need a Server OS to create a domain controller. It sounds like the person you talked to is confused on a couple of counts.

NT4 Server required that you choose whether the computer was to be a PDC/BDC during installation. The only way to change the role of the server (either from member server to PDC/BDC or vice-versa) was to reinstall the OS.

Win2K server allows to change the server's role at any time. Installing Active Directory (AD) (by running dcpromo) on any Win2K Server will automatically create an AD domain (if none exists),and turn the server into a DC. If you run dcpromo again, AD is removed, and the server reverts to the role of member server.

by curlergirl

The person who told you this is very confused. Only server-level OS's can be domain controllers - NT Server, 2000 Server or 2003 Server. You can, however, use an XP machine as a "server" in a peer-to-peer workgroup environment. Perhaps this is what he or she was thinking about. Hope this helps!

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