Q204631: Active Directory could not be detected from this Computer error during EDS Installation – Raynet Support Panel

During installation of Deployment Manager the installer checks whether you have connection to the AD Primary Domain Controller (PDC) and if it fails you get the message below:

The corresponding error in the MSI log is:

Action 14:25:52: GetDomainName.
ManageSoft (14:25:52): domain.cxx: Entered GetNT4DomainName()
ManageSoft (14:25:52): domain.cxx: GetNT4DomainName() Connected to netapi32.dll (0x0x74ED5EB2, 0x0x74F45570, 0x0x74F313D2)
ManageSoft (14:26:07): domain.cxx: GetNT4DomainName() Error getting DC name
ManageSoft (14:26:07): domain.cxx: GetNT4DomainName() Error getting workstation info
ManageSoft (14:26:07): domain.cxx: GetNT4DomainName() Finished (OSACOM_FAILED)
GetDomainName: None found

Cause

The errors indicate that the NetGetDCName() Microsoft API call (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa370420(v=vs.85).aspx) is failing to lookup the PDC in the other domain.&ampnbsp It could be a trust relationship issue, DNS issue or something else.&ampnbsp

Running the Microsoft tool nltest (available in the Windows Resource Kit) via the command "nltest.exe /DCNAME:" will have the same problem as it uses the same API which confirms it's a network issue rather than product issue.

Resolution

Depending on the cause the resolution varies, in essence it's a network connectivity issue preventing the NetGetDCName() API from contacting the PDC. An example fix is to put an lmhosts file in c:\windows/system32/drivers/etc on the core server and adding the PDC IP Address and hostname.

Workaround

As a workaround, you could create the required security groups manually and then include the GROUPS_ALREADY_CONFIGURED msi property on the msiexec command line. This would stop the installer contacting the domain controller at all.