Question: I am unable to add a Windows XP SP2 computer to a Windows Server 2003 R2 Domain. I get an Access Denied Error message.

Answer: After some research i stumble on this:

The problem seems to relate to the fact that the computer has been connected to a domain before.

When i looked in the NETSETUP.log (Located in c:windowsdebug) I found this information:

01/03 10:17:02 —————————————————————–
01/03 10:17:02 NetpDoDomainJoin
01/03 10:17:02 NetpMachineValidToJoin: ‘COMPUTER’
01/03 10:17:02 NetpGetLsaPrimaryDomain: status: 0x0
01/03 10:17:02 NetpMachineValidToJoin: status: 0x0
01/03 10:17:02 NetpJoinDomain
01/03 10:17:02  Machine: COMPUTER
01/03 10:17:02  Domain: domain
01/03 10:17:02  MachineAccountOU: (NULL)
01/03 10:17:02  Account: domainadministrator
01/03 10:17:02  Options: 0x27
01/03 10:17:02  OS Version: 5.1
01/03 10:17:02  Build number: 2600
01/03 10:17:02  ServicePack: Service Pack 2
01/03 10:17:02 NetpValidateName: checking to see if ‘domain’ is valid as type 3 name
01/03 10:17:03 NetpCheckDomainNameIsValid [ Exists ] for ‘domain’ returned 0x0
01/03 10:17:03 NetpValidateName: name ‘domain’ is valid for type 3
01/03 10:17:03 NetpDsGetDcName: trying to find DC in domain ‘domain’, flags: 0x1020
01/03 10:17:03 NetpDsGetDcName: found DC ‘\DC’ in the specified domain
01/03 10:17:03 NetUseAdd to \DCIPC$ returned 5
01/03 10:17:03 NetpJoinDomain: status of connecting to dc ‘\DC’: 0x5
01/03 10:17:03 NetpDoDomainJoin: status: 0x5 

After resetting security settings to default on the XP workstation by using:

secedit /configure /cfg %windir%repairsecsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose

I vas able to add the computer to the domain.

Source:

Microsoft Knowledge Base
Google News Groups