Hi,
I have a work laptop which I have removed from it?s domain (by changing to a workgroup) and now have two problems:
1) How to rejoin the domain.
2) How to retrieve files in ?my docs? from the (now removed) domain user. Of course, now that the domain was removed Windows has removed the user on that domain and the associated ?my docs? folder.
All ideas appreciated! The background is:
1) Laptop was set up on work domain. When logging in and not connected to the work domain it would try to syncronise with server files and not find them, but otherwise no issues.
2) To try and help debug a home networking problem I changed the laptop from being on the work domain to the home workgroup.
3) Then I learnt a lot about the differences between domains and workgroups?.
4) I can log in under the workgroup with local admin rights, however I can not simply change the laptop back to the work domain. This (I expect) requires a user with domain admin rights, not local machine admin rights. I have tried connecting the laptop back to the work network and entering the domain info, however this does not work (insufficient privileges?).
5) I can not access the files in ?my docs? ? and that would be really useful.
Is there any way to rejoin the domain without having domain admin rights? Does windows keep a record of the old domain that can be reincarnated?
Given that the files system is NTFS, is there an easy way to access the files I want? The easiest option (!) I have come up with so far is make a DOS boot CD with a DOS NTFS file reader on, and find some USB memory stick DOS drivers so that I can copy the files off (NB ? no floppy). I?m getting there with this but it?s a learning experience?
If someone with domain admin rights was to me as a user again, would the ?my docs? folder become accessible again, or would it be a completely new user?
The OS is XP prof with service pack 2, although I could have sworn that when I was in the work domain it said