Ok, so I'm stepping through the Windows Server 2003 Environment
Training Kit for the 70-290 exam. Obviously, one of the first steps is
setting up a Domain Controller. Rather than building a server from
scratch, I figured I would use one of the staging servers that we have
on hand and just skip the base operating system installation steps and
jump right to the install of the Domain Controller piece.

Server:
The server was running Windows Server 2003 Standard R2 and belonged to
another domain.

Problem:
The first part of the install completed successfully, it asked me to
make it it's own DNS server, which I did. Then it asked for a reboot. I
rebooted the machine and was then prompted to login (obviously). I
don't know what to use to login. So now I'm stuck.

The "log in to" box has one option - contoso (the domain the training
kit had me set up). The local machine name is not listed (did that get
blown away in the domain creation process?), literally, nothing but
CONTOSO. So I tried "Administrator" and the password that used to work
(when it belonged to our primary domain). I tried no password. I'm at a
loss.

I know I could rebuild the machine from scratch but it has a few files
I'd like to keep on it. No biggie if I just can't, but it's also kind
of a matter of principle, you know? I'd like to be able to fix the
problem.

It's also probably worth noting that the machine is in the office and
I'm sitting on my recliner at home. I'm using Remote Administrator to
gain console access to the machine. Of course, I'll be back in the
office FAR too soon .

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

my comments are in-line:

--
Mike
Microsoft MVP - Windows Security

<snip>

This is by design. When you run DCPROMO on a server it will erase SAM
database and its content. You can only logon to the domain and not locally
(well -- you can logon locally but in safe mode).

Password that works on your new domain controller is local Administrator
password that was set on the server (not old domain Administrator account
password -- but _local_ Administrator account password).

Yeah, I just can't believe that I forgot the password to the local
Administrator account - talk about feeling foolish! I just thought I
skipped over the step in setup where you create a local admin password
(since it's in the test lab, I thought I just hit next and didn't give
it a password - I was going to wait until after I did the steps).
Obviously, I did give it a password though. DOH!

I also got some responses on another thread:
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...544e8?lnk=igtc

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply - I really appreciate it!
-Chris (LW)