Join a domain without DomainAdminPassword provided

[frankiboy_01]

Hi folks,

I'm trying to build an unattended installation CD for Windows 2000.

All is working fine except joining a domain. In Microsoft's "Guide to Unattended Install..." it says:

DomainAdminPassword

Value: <password of user account>

Specifies the password of the user account as defined by the DomainAdmin parameter. This key is required if you set the value of the JoinDomain key to Yes even though the computer account may already exist on the domain. For example:

DomainAdminPassword = abcdef123

Note  This is a potential security issue, since the password is in plain text. For a deployment, you should create a special account that can be used to create computer accounts in the domain, or - better still - create computer accounts in the domain before starting the deployment. The password is deleted from the copy of the Unattend.txt file left on the computer after Setup is complete.

So I added the Computer to the domain prior to performing the unattended install, but after finishing the PC was NOT added to my domain (remains in the workgroup "workgroup").

How should this be performed? - Waht am I doing wrong?

I wanted to go the way Microsoft proposes (first add computer account in ActiveDirectory and then install) and ommit the potential security risc of adding a password in plain text.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks in advance.

Greetings

Frank