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Messenger Service Won't Start

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7 replies

by mchilders

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We are running a Windows NT Server as a PDC on our main domain network and our Messenger Service will not start. Whenever we try to start it, we get the following message:
"The computer name could not be added as a message alias. The name may already exist on the network".
The first thing that I checked for was duplicate Netbios names on the network which there are none. The second thing that I checked for was any user accounts, local and global groups, and other computer accounts to see if someone had the same name but all names on the network are unique. We have the most recent service pack installed but we are still unable to start our Messenger Service. Does anyone have any ideas? I've see this on a server with more than one NIC butnever one with only one NIC.

7 replies

by zaman

Do you have WINS servers on your network?. If so check and see if the WINS datbases have an entry for your Server(PDC). If they do (or even if one of them has an entry), go ahead and delete it (it would be better if you added a static entry in all your WINS servers for your PDC WITH the right IP address). Reboot and try again.

Also, if your PDC is multihomed (Multiple NICs), then you might try and disable WINS on all the interfaces except one.

by allan

Remove the server from the domain. (I usually make it a member of a workgroup with the same name as the domain.)
Remove any WINS references and then rejoin the domain.

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