Win2003 VM's will not join domain.

[dcaan]

Hello, having a problem joining ANY virtual machines off of a new ESX server to the domain. All dns,wins,router.etc configs have been checked and seem ok. Every time i try to join the domain i get the error.

The endpoint format is invalid....

I have tried quite a few things now and i can only believe that it is the esx network configuration somehow. I can ping everything. you name it. From the DNS servers to the Default gateways to the VM ip addresses, but it will not join the domain.

Any ideas?

[Curdasss]

Have you seen this link? It appears to be a 2K3 issue.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=893712

[GlenMarquis2]

Try changing the SID (newsid.exe) and ensuring that the name of the computer does not already exist in AD.

[kapplah]

Hi,

is there any kind of firewall between the ESX host and your domain controllers. We have had similar problems in our customer zone, which was seperated from our DC's. We have had to allow netbios-session.

cu,

Alex

[jspilon]

You can also use sysprep for your w2k3 VM images... just copy, boot and you got a brand new install of w2k3 with the updates you installed, etc... with a new sid and hostname

[pgpde]

Hi dcaan,

I ran into the same problem today. What helped for me was to uninstall the vmware tools and reinstall them.

It seemed to be a problem that the VM image had originally been created on VMware workstation, then moved to ESX, but the vmware tools for vmware workstation had only been upgraded to the vmware tools for ESX, but not cleanly uninstalled and then installed again...

Best regards,

Felix

[nandiman]

Similar problem seen here. Changed server to be a member of workgroup. Restarted, then changed server to rejoin our production domain.

[esiebert7625]

Make sure you do not do a Complete install of VMware-Tools, the Shared Folders option has been known to cause these types of problems.

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=669536&#669536

[Paul_Kourany]

Just a follow up to this topic. Whilve moving several systems to our new ESX 3.02 system, I had all the problems mentioned above and more, including group policy prolems on an Exchange server which rendered it almost useless! Many servers came via Converter 3 and Workstation 6. When I removed the VMWare Tools, rebooted, reinstalled the tools and rebooted again, THE PROBLEMS WENT AWAY!! I suspect having the Tools from WS6 is a problem. Thanks for this topic!! It saved a lot of work and greif!!

[esiebert7625]

I suspect having the Tools from WS6 is a problem

It's the Shared Folders option of VMware Tools that WS6 uses that was causing the problem.

[Nobrell]

This thread really saved my weekend :smileygrin:

Have a Win2003 which have been created in WS6 and then moved to VMware Server and now finally to ESX.

After using Convert to move it to ESX it was really weird and lots of errors in the event viewer couldnt reach shared resources on the network RDP wasnt working and so on

Did the Convert 3 times always ending up with the same problem.

I was about to give up and reinstall everything, which would have meant several day work...

Then i found this golden thread.

After uninstalling VMware Tools and then installing it again from the VI console everything is back to normal.

The Share folder option from WS6 must have been the problem.

VMware Server seems to be uneffected by this share folder option.

[TomHowarth]

After uninstalling VMware Tools and then installing it again from the VI console everything is back to normal.

The Share folder option from WS6 must have been the problem.

VMware Server seems to be uneffected by this share folder option.

That could be due to the fact that both Workstation and VMware Server are hosted platforms, and ESX is a bare metal install, therefore no folders to Share

Kind Regards

Tom,

[user127777]

Great thread, glad I "finally" stumbled across it. Just wondering, is VMware ever going to recognize this as a bug and fix it?? It's been around for several releases now....

[GilbertPoirier]

Awesome info, thanks guys. Removing the Shared Folders from vmware tools sorted out by issue too