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Why am I having trouble adding an Windows Server 2003 Active Directory child domain?

I'm setting up a new forest in which I will have two different child domains. I have just set up the parent domain (encorepr.com) using Windows Server 2003. Now I want to add a child domain using a Windows 2000 Server but every time I try to set up AD and contact the parent domain (encorepr.com or encorepr using NetBIOS) I get an error message that states that it cannot contact the parent domain and if I recently set it up it may take time to register with DNS.

I've let it sit for a little while and I still cannot figure out why it will not connect to the parent domain.

Am I doing something wrong or did I miss something in the setup of either server? The parent domain is on a 10.151.1.0/255.255.0.0 network and the child domain I want to create is on a 10.151.2.0/255.255.0.0 network. I want to try to keep them as separated as possible so that's why I used different subnets.

Any idea what I might be doing wrong? Thanks in advance for all of your help!

Based on your description, the first place that I would start troubleshooting is your DNS setup. From the server in the child domain that you're trying to promote, can you ping the domain controllers in the parent domain by their IP address? By their DNS name? By their associated GUID in the _msdcs. domain? Be sure that the server in your child domain is using a DNS server that can resolve the SRV records associated with the parent domain, particularly that of the Domain Naming Master.

This was first published in April 2006

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