I setup a Windows 2000 Server Domain some time ago. At the time all our machines were running Windows 2000 Workstation. Then we bought some new machines with Windows XP Pro. I joined them to the domain, no problem. But then I seemed to be getting some odd behaviour.

For one, I've found that I sometimes am unable to browse the 2K machines from the XP machines. When I first log in, it's fine. But then after some time when I try to browse to a 2K machine, it hangs for a minute and eventually errors out. I have to reboot the machine before I can get access again.

We also have a VPN to another network that has some XP machines in a workgroup. I can access these machines with no problems from our 2K machines no matter who I log in as. The XP machines won't connect unless I log in with a username/password that also exists on the target machine. Even with the same username/password, I sometimes lose connection and have to reboot before I can access the machine again.

I've searched all over the Internet for anything about these issues. I have yet to find anything useful. I appreciate any help anyone can offer. Thanks!

Run IPCONFIG on the new machines. Make sure DNS is pointing to the Win 2000 server's DNS and NOT ISP DNS. Also, make sure Client for MS Networks is installed. Check Event logs as well.

Thanks, that works great. Only problem then is that the workstations can't resolve any domain names outside the local domain. I figure I'll need to configure DNS on the Server to fix that. How do I configure the server to pass unknown DNS requests (outside the local domain) on to the internet DNS servers?

Thanks!

What you need to do is get on your domain controlller (which i assume is also your DNS server otherwise get on your DNS server) and set a DNS forward zone and point it to either your ISP gateway or your ISP DNS. This way it forwards all unknown DNS requests to another server who hopefully knows.

Mind you, I'm still getting my head around DNS issues on my own DC so I could be completely wrong. If this is the case, Clutch or someone similar will correct me pretty quick.

Felix is spot on on this. Open up the DNS applet under Administrative Tools, then the properties for your DNS server and select the Fowarders tab. It's best to add at least two IP's for fowarding DNS servers under 'Seleted domain's forwarder IP address list:' These are usually the primary and secondary DNS servers for your ISP, but you can add any public DNS servers if you wish.

I tried to set the Forwarders but it doesn't give me the option. I opened up the Properties for my DC in the DNS managment console. In the Forwarders tab it says "Forwarders are not available because this is a root server." I don't see any forworders options in any of the Forward Lookup Zones. Here's a screenshot of what I'm talking about. I colored out my server and domain names.



Thanks for your help and the quick responses.

Wu-hooo! I finally found out how to fix it. See the "." zone under Forward Lookup Zones. That needed to be deleted. That was it. I hate it when it's something so simple but it takes you forever to find it. The "." zone tells the DNS server to respond to all DNS requests. Deleting this zone and only leaving my domain zone tells the DNS server to resolve DNS only for the domain. All other DNS requests get forwarded to the DNS servers defined in the roots hints file I believe.