# Joining a Vista PC to a Server 2003 domain **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-vista-pc-to-a-server-2003-domain/559180 "2010-11-02T04:49:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-vista-pc-to-a-server-2003-domain/559180/1 "2010-11-02T04:49:12Z")
OK, unlike my last GQ question, I did a lot of Google searching first, but no luck. In order to not forget what I learned in college a couple of years ago I’m attempting to join a Vista (virtual) PC to a Server 2003 domain. I have two virtual computers (using [Virtualbox](http://www.virtualbox.org/)) a Windows Server 2003 virtual PC and a Vista Business virtual PC). As far as I know I set everything up right, but when I try to join the domain I get an error that it can’t be found. Here’s what I did Server 2003 [ul] [li]Made it a domain controller. - The domain name is [jbs.contoso.com](http://jbs.contoso.com)[/li][li]Made it a DNS server. - In the forward lookup zone I have an entry for [jbs.contoso.com](http://jbs.contoso.com)[/li][li]Added a PC to the do Active Directory[/li][/ul] Vista Business [ul] [li]Pointed the DNS address to the 2003 computer - It works just fine.[/li][li]Pinged the 2003 computer using the computer name - It worked.[/li][/ul] And for now, both firewalls are turned off, so that’s not the problem. OK, so, Vista is going through Server 2003 for its DNS, it can translate the 2003 PC name to its IP address, yet when I type in the domain name on the Vista machine I get, “An Active Directory Domain Controller for the domain [jbs.contoso.com](http://jbs.contoso.com) could not be contacted.” Now Googling shows that a lot of people have problems joining Vista to a 2003 domain, but I cannot find what to do. And the funny thing is, not to long ago, I had pretty much the exact same setup working, but I can’t get it to work this time. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-vista-pc-to-a-server-2003-domain/559180/2 "2010-11-02T05:56:16Z")
This is strange. I started shortening the domain name [contoso.com](http://contoso.com) - Nothing jbs.contoso - Nothing jbs - Seems to work. For some reason a partial domain name works, but not the full name. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-vista-pc-to-a-server-2003-domain/559180/3 "2010-11-02T06:47:08Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > This is strange. I started shortening the domain name > [contoso.com](http://contoso.com) - Nothing > jbs.contoso - Nothing > jbs - Seems to work. > > For some reason a partial domain name works, but not the full name. Weird. because you are trying to join microsofts domain with [contoso.com](http://contoso.com) ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joining-a-vista-pc-to-a-server-2003-domain/559180/4 "2010-11-02T06:57:06Z")
Good point. I figured if Vista got the domain IP from the 2003 DNS server there wouldn’t be a problem. As in it would get info from my 2003 machine instead of from my ISP.