I'm having a tough time joining machines to an existing domain and I keep running into this error: "An attempt to resolve the DNS name of a domain controller in the domain being joined has failed. Please verify this client is configured to reach a DNS server that can resolve DNS names in the target domain." I've checked a few things:
- dcdiag shows no issues.
- nltest /dsgetdc returns the DC successfully.
- DNS records look fine, and I can ping the DC using both its FQDN and hostname.
- I can also ping the domain name.
Everything seems okay metadata-wise and trust relationships with other machines still joined to the domain look good too. I'm at a loss for what could be the problem. Any suggestions?
4 Answers
It's probably a DNS issue. Are both IPv4 and IPv6 properly configured and functional? Modern Windows systems favor IPv6, so if your DC isn't set up for it, that might be causing confusion with DNS queries coming from the router.
Have you tried removing and re-adding the network adapter? Also, ensure that you're manually entering all DNS server names in the IPv4 settings—don't just limit it to two, try including multiple servers in case of a failover.
It sounds like a DNS issue for sure. Are you using any products like Umbrella or antivirus that might intercept DNS traffic? It's worth checking if your local DNS suffix is different from your public one. Also, try to see if the machines are connected via Wi-Fi or wired, as some Wi-Fi access points might be causing DNS issues. If you're feeling adventurous, running Wireshark during the join attempt could give you some insight into which DNS query is failing. As a quick workaround, you could also manually add it to the hosts file to get it working temporarily.
Interesting you mention DNS suffixes. I actually found that the DC was missing the DNS suffix, which is weird! I'm going to fix that and re-register DNS, but if I still have trouble, I'll use Wireshark.
First things first, double-check your DHCP settings. Is it handing out the correct DNS configuration to the new clients? That could definitely mess things up if it's not set right.
Yes, it is set correctly, and I've even manually configured the DNS servers in the adapter just to make sure.
Good call! I hadn't thought about that. I'll check to see if IPv6 is properly set up on the DC.