Windows 95 and WFW Err Msg: No Domain Server Was Available...

• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5, 3.51
• Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51
• Microsoft Windows 95
• Microsoft Windows for Workgroups version 3.11

SYMPTOMS

When you use Windows 95 Dial-up Networking client or Windows for Workgroups Remote Access Service (RAS) client and connect to a Windows NT Server domain, the following error message appears:

No domain server was available to validate your password.
You may not able to gain access to some network resources.

CAUSE

Although the domain name specified during network logon is valid and the domain server is available, this problem occurs if the Windows 95 or Windows for Workgroups computer name is in use on the remote network. See Q123423 for other causes for the above error.

When a Windows 95 Dial-up Networking client tries to register a duplicate computer name on the network, it fails to register the name and to initialize the workstation service.

Consequently, NetBIOS application dependent on the workstation service such as NET USE or NET VIEW does not work. In this scenario, the duplicate name error message is expected to occur prior to the error message above. The expected duplicate name error is:

The computer name you specified in already in use on the network. To specify a different name, double-click the network icon in control panel.

Windows 95 Dial-up Networking client fails to display the duplicate name error message. Instead, it just displays "no domain server available" error message. WFW shows the same behavior as Windows 95. The Windows NT RAS client properly shows the duplicate name error message.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, log on to the remote network with a different computer name.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows 95 and Windows for Workgroups version 3.11. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Additional query words:

Keywords : NTInterop
Version : WINDOWS:3.11,95; winnt:3.5,3.51
Platform : WINDOWS winnt
Issue type :