Jaekarp,

It sounds like you've got 1 Server in your Domain, with 2 workstations. You changed the Server's name, not necessarily the one causing the name duplication problem from the event logs, possibly a client computer. WINS *IS* a factor, but let's move on.

You've got a NetBIOS Domain name (I Say NetBIOS because W2K uses DNS Domain Names) of which you wish to preserve. With this small number of machines TCP/IP shouldn't cross your mind, unless you require Internet connectivity; Which means WINS is *NOT* used and you're using NetBEUI as your protocol. NetBEUI is a broadcast protocol, meaning that when the machine comes on line, it *Broadcasts* "Hey, I'm computer "Jon" and I'm on line!

Changing the Server's name is also going to change it's UNC name; i.e. \\SERVERNAME\SHARENAME for those printers you're sharing. Also keep in mind that when your server goes down, your workstations have also participated in the election process for master browser; meaning that if the server goes down, the most powerful WS wins the election and become Master Browser, hence your inability to change names back. This can get complicated, so do the following:

Shut down all Workstations, Rename your server to whatever is comfortable. Go to Server Manager and DELETE all client Computers. Now go to each client and log onto the LOCAL machine with Admin rights. Now change the Domain to Workgroup and Restart. Now join your domain once again and your problem should go away, as long as you DELETED the machine name from SERVER MANAGER!

NT is the only way! Most worry about Y2K, I worry about W2K!

Jon Paskett
MCSE, MCP+I






>Is there anybody who can help me with NT Admin work?
>I found an 'EVENT LOG ERROR' in my NT server(DEC alpha).The error Message is that there is already the computer with same computer name in a domain. The funny thing is there is no computer with the same name; only 2 workstations and the server are all in the domain.
>So I changed the server's name and rebooted what's going to happen.
>It was O.K And I want to change the name into the original one but I couldn't reverse anymore. I'm in a quandary because a lot of clients in another domain still use its file service; they certainly would use the original computer name in their network logon path only to get failure.
>Parden my poor English and any tips or info would be great help for me .