I have a client that I am replacing nine XP Professional computers with nine Windows 8.1 Professional computers. Each new one will be setup identical to the old one it is replacing (e.g. users, programs, machine name, IP, DNS, etc.) This first one gives me an error when I try to change from a workgroup to a domain. I tried just the “Change” button and the “Network ID” button. The first gives the error message “An Active Directory Domain Controller (AD DC) for domain “eyecare” could not be contacted.” while the second says it cannot find the computer (or could be user – I am writing this from memory of what I did and the error messages.)
If everything on the new computer is identical to the old computer, then why am I having trouble with this computer joining the domain? There are map drives to the server that are working and the server can be pinged OK.