Re-adding a remote PC to a domain

Admiral Huddy · 4 Jan 2021 at 16:26

As per the title really, there's no one in the office and not likely to be.. Is this possible?

I've checked AD, and there's noting to suggest I can.

Thanks

randal · 4 Jan 2021 at 16:36

Admiral Huddy said:
As per the title really, there's no one in the office and not likely to be.. Is this possible?

I've checked AD, and there's noting to suggest I can.

Thanks

Do you have credentials for the remote machine? RDP/Remote Registry etc?

Caged · 4 Jan 2021 at 16:41

Need a bit more information. Do you have connectivity between the PC and a DC? Do you have access to the PC?

Webster · 4 Jan 2021 at 16:56

If you can access said PC remotely, then simply connect it to the domain using a VPN or something and re-join it.

Assume it had some kind of domain connectivity from it's location to work remotely previously?

Deleted member 77746 · 4 Jan 2021 at 17:26

Is it inside the network (in office) or outside the network (at home?) If it's inside the network as long as you have physical or remote desktop access it can be joined. If it's outside the network then unless AD is in Azure you would need that machine to VPN into work then join it there.

Admiral Huddy · 4 Jan 2021 at 18:07

It is inside the network. we normally RDP to the machine once a connection is made to the network.. Can't RDP or ping it.

Security staff has confirmed the PC is on and on the login screen.

Webster · 5 Jan 2021 at 09:10

Admiral Huddy said:
It is inside the network. we normally RDP to the machine once a connection is made to the network.. Can't RDP or ping it.

Security staff has confirmed the PC is on and on the login screen.

Doesn't sound like anything to do with rejoining AD?

Just sounds like it's frozen/crashed/lost network connectivity - you will need to look at it in person to see what the issue is.

Django x2 · 5 Jan 2021 at 10:41

Can you see the machine from another management point (within the same network). IE, can you RDP to a DC (or RSAT enabled box) and then second jump from there (although I would rage hard at IT security if that was possible but you might at least get a response)

Admiral Huddy · 5 Jan 2021 at 11:04

Thanks for your replies.. No, I've tried a VPN and from our DR replication and from another server on the same network.

I'm sure I've done this before by resetting the machine from the AD.

ChrisD. · 5 Jan 2021 at 11:09

Admiral Huddy said:
I'm sure I've done this before by resetting the machine from the AD.

Django x2 · 5 Jan 2021 at 11:14

That's not going to fix connectivity issues.

ChrisD. · 5 Jan 2021 at 11:18

I know, but it answers his question directly before my post.

McBadgers & Mash · 6 Jan 2021 at 22:06

When you say you used VPN was it SSL using a client or IPSEC, ideally you would want to be using IPSEC and for the server subnet to be in the encryption domain allowing a more natural level of network communication as opposed to the virtual NIC socketed by the SSL VPN Client.

Deleted member 77746 · 6 Jan 2021 at 22:10

Admiral Huddy said:
It is inside the network. we normally RDP to the machine once a connection is made to the network.. Can't RDP or ping it.

If you can't RDP or ping to it then it's a connectivity issue. Check connection and re-try.

Admiral Huddy · 7 Jan 2021 at 09:09

Bouton Aide said:
If you can't RDP or ping to it then it's a connectivity issue. Check connection and re-try.

So our staff are RDPing to their own machines in the office, and this is the issue. One of them is unreachable.. Fortunately, we do have one guy that was able to check the connection and check if the PC was on.. and that seems fine but he can't do any more than that.

This is the problem with dated FAT client installations, but we are where we are.

ChrisD. · 7 Jan 2021 at 09:25

You really should be using something like Horizon or Citrix. RDP to a fat client, what are we in, 2007?

Deleted member 77746 · 7 Jan 2021 at 09:40

ChrisD. said:
You really should be using something like Horizon or Citrix. RDP to a fat client, what are we in, 2007?

RDP works great.

Ask vince and his wonderful fat client setup lol

Deleted member 77746 · 7 Jan 2021 at 09:44

Admiral Huddy said:
So our staff are RDPing to their own machines in the office, and this is the issue. One of them is unreachable.. Fortunately, we do have one guy that was able to check the connection and check if the PC was on.. and that seems fine but he can't do any more than that.

This is the problem with dated FAT client installations, but we are where we are.

Where's the technician at ? It does sound like a connectivity issue mind from what you have described. Change the cable, plug it into another wall port (if it's hard wired that is). Can this said person even log into the system?

Caged · 7 Jan 2021 at 10:00

Have you tried bouncing the switch port and having someone on site reboot the PC? Can someone on site login with their own AD credentials locally?

Rabtech · 8 Jan 2021 at 15:28

Regarding the Domain Join remotely:

Depending on the VPN type, on the machine login as a local admin - start the VPN then do domain join. Reboot the machine once domain joined, login to same local account and start the VPN again. Switch user and enter the domain users credentials. Once the domain user credentials have been cached once, they should be good to login via their own account and connect the VPN as normal (of course switch user again and disconnect the VPN before trying). This is also assuming the VPN has DNS setup correctly, I've seen loads of VPN's in my time set up incorrectly.

RDP connectivity issues via VPN:

I've seen this especially with Cisco VPN's, bottom line it will more than likely by IPv6 if you connect to the office from an ISP that uses IPv6. Ideally disable IPv6 in your router completely (if you don't use it of course) or disable IPv6 on every network adapter on the machine you are connecting to the VPN from.