Joining a Stand-Alone XP Pro computer to a Win 03 domain

A quick (and hopefully simple) question.

I have a XP Pro computer that I have been working on as a
stand-alone for over a year. Lots of files in my stand-
alone logins.

I wish to (temporarly) join a Win 2003 server AD domain,
basically for practice (I have an Evaluation copy of the
Win 2003 Server and am studing for my MCSE).

If I join this domain, will I lose all of my stand-alone
files? I remember something like this happening to me
before with Win2K.

If you are actually authenticating to the AD Domain
controller and your user account will reside on the D/C
and not locally on your PC, than go into the User Profile
settings (System Properties) and copy your user profile
into the Default User (by default this profile is hidden,
therefore, you have to show all file prior to attempting
this). Now, with administrative access go into the
Computer Name tab of System Properties and click
the "Change" button and type in the domain name to become
a member of the domain, once again you will have to have
administrative credentials to perform this task. You
should receive a "Welcome to the NT Domain" message. You
will be prompted to reboot the computer for the changes to
take effect, once you reboot, and you have already setup
your personal user account on the D/C; you should be able
to type in these credentials and successfully login into
the D/C; at which point the profile from "Default User"
will become your new profile. Under User Accounts in
Control Panel you will not see this user, however, if you
look under c:\document and settings you should see a user
account representing a domain user.

Kind of tricky the first time, but after a couple times
you'll get the hang of it.

Hope this helps.

Brian

>-----Original Message-----
>A quick (and hopefully simple) question.
>
>I have a XP Pro computer that I have been working on as a
>stand-alone for over a year. Lots of files in my stand-
>alone logins.
>
>I wish to (temporarly) join a Win 2003 server AD domain,
>basically for practice (I have an Evaluation copy of the
>Win 2003 Server and am studing for my MCSE).
>
>If I join this domain, will I lose all of my stand-alone
>files? I remember something like this happening to me
>before with Win2K.
>.
>

I forgot to mention, you have to login to your XP system
with a profile other than the profile you are attempting
to copy to the default user profile.

>-----Original Message-----
>A quick (and hopefully simple) question.
>
>I have a XP Pro computer that I have been working on as a
>stand-alone for over a year. Lots of files in my stand-
>alone logins.
>
>I wish to (temporarly) join a Win 2003 server AD domain,
>basically for practice (I have an Evaluation copy of the
>Win 2003 Server and am studing for my MCSE).
>
>If I join this domain, will I lose all of my stand-alone
>files? I remember something like this happening to me
>before with Win2K.
>.
>

No. You may get a new profile when you join the domain which doesn't show
your local files. But you can still do a local login using the options on
the login screen.

"Stephen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1383e01c3f7fc$01628940$(E-Mail Removed)...
> A quick (and hopefully simple) question.
>
> I have a XP Pro computer that I have been working on as a
> stand-alone for over a year. Lots of files in my stand-
> alone logins.
>
> I wish to (temporarly) join a Win 2003 server AD domain,
> basically for practice (I have an Evaluation copy of the
> Win 2003 Server and am studing for my MCSE).
>
> If I join this domain, will I lose all of my stand-alone
> files? I remember something like this happening to me
> before with Win2K.

Now the problem is that anybody logging into the machine for the first time
will get the whole profile which probably isn't appropriate.

All that is needed is to log in once to the domain to create a new profile.
Then log out and back in as Admin and copy the earlier profile to the newer
fresh one. Leave the Default User profile alone.


--

Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com

"Brian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:138e501c3f80b$25ec07a0$(E-Mail Removed)...
> If you are actually authenticating to the AD Domain
> controller and your user account will reside on the D/C
> and not locally on your PC, than go into the User Profile
> settings (System Properties) and copy your user profile
> into the Default User (by default this profile is hidden,
> therefore, you have to show all file prior to attempting
> this). Now, with administrative access go into the
> Computer Name tab of System Properties and click
> the "Change" button and type in the domain name to become
> a member of the domain, once again you will have to have
> administrative credentials to perform this task. You
> should receive a "Welcome to the NT Domain" message. You
> will be prompted to reboot the computer for the changes to
> take effect, once you reboot, and you have already setup
> your personal user account on the D/C; you should be able
> to type in these credentials and successfully login into
> the D/C; at which point the profile from "Default User"
> will become your new profile. Under User Accounts in
> Control Panel you will not see this user, however, if you
> look under c:\document and settings you should see a user
> account representing a domain user.
>
> Kind of tricky the first time, but after a couple times
> you'll get the hang of it.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Brian
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >A quick (and hopefully simple) question.
> >
> >I have a XP Pro computer that I have been working on as a
> >stand-alone for over a year. Lots of files in my stand-
> >alone logins.
> >
> >I wish to (temporarly) join a Win 2003 server AD domain,
> >basically for practice (I have an Evaluation copy of the
> >Win 2003 Server and am studing for my MCSE).
> >
> >If I join this domain, will I lose all of my stand-alone
> >files? I remember something like this happening to me
> >before with Win2K.
> >.
> >