I am setting up an unattended installation of Windows 2000 and am having a problem joining it to my domain. I enter the domain name, user name and password in my .inf file, however when sysprep runs, I recieve an error very similar to this: "You have entered an invalid domain. Would you like to proceed for now and try joining a domain later?" I have tried entering the domain name in front of the user name: domain\userid and that doesn't work either. In my brief attempts to Google for an answer, I saw somewhere that I have to add the IP address of my DHCP server in the .inf file. I have also rebooted the machine and then have problems joining it to the domain at that time as well. Any help here is appreciated.

Thanks,

Jarod

Here is a copy of my .inf file, names have been changed to protect the innocent:

;SetupMgrTag

;

[unattended]

OemSkipEula=Yes

OemPnPDriversPath=Sysprep\Drivers\audio;Sysprep\Drivers\video;

Sysprep\Drivers\chipset;Sysprep\Drivers\usb;Sysprep\Drivers\Unknown;

Sysprep\Laptop Drivers\audio;\Sysprep\Laptop Drivers\Video;Sysprep\Laptop

Drivers\Nic;Sysprep\Laptop Drivers\Chipset

ExtendOemPartition=1

DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore

InstallFilesPath=C:\WINNT\i386

[GuiUnattended]

AdminPassword=password

OEMSkipRegional=1

TimeZone=35

OemSkipWelcome=1

[userData]

FullName="Authorized User"

OrgName="Business"

ComputerName=

ProductID=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

[Display]

Xresolution=1024

YResolution=768

BitsPerPel=24

[TapiLocation]

CountryCode=1

AreaCode=111

[setupMgr]

DistFolder=C:\sysprep\i386

DistShare=win2000dist

[identification]

JoinDomain=domain name

DomainAdmin=admin

DomainAdminPassword=password

[Networking]

InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[sysprepMassStorage]

PCMCIA\*PNP0600=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCMCIA\KME-KXLC005-A99E=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCMCIA\_-NinjaATA--3768=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCMCIA\FUJITSU-IDE-PC_CARD-DDF2=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

*AZT0502=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\CC_0101=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_10B9&DEV_5215=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_10B9&DEV_5219=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_10B9&DEV_5229=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_1097&DEV_0038=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_0640=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_0646=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_0E11&DEV_AE33=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1222=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1230=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_7010=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_7111=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2411=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2421=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_7199=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_1042&DEV_1000=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_0601=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_5513=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_10AD&DEV_0001=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_10AD&DEV_0150=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_105A&DEV_4D33=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_0571=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf

The exact error I am getting is: "The domain spicified is invalid. Would you like to continue for now and join a domain later."

typically that is due to a bad/ not active NIC.

Some NICs will not auto detect/install until the chipset drivers get updated.

I join the workgroup, let setup complete, auto admin logon, and then run a netdom script to rename and join the domain...

netdom join newname domain oupath ladmin lpass dadmin dpass

netdom renamecomputer oldname newname ladmin lpass dadmin dpass /force /reboot:10

Thanks Radimus, I got a script working to join the domain, any ideas on how to get it to auto log in to a Novell client. When I try to login in the first time with Sysprep, it bombs out.

Thanks again.