Here is something to know if you ever run into the same situation. It took me a while to find the source of the problem because all errors were misleading, and that I couldn't find any article about this subject on the net.
I put together a new DC "b.net" to take over a multitude of mis-configured domains. Once I had everything working perfect (DNS, AD, trusts, etc.), and having NO error in the Event Viewer, I begun to give access to shares of other domains and NAS'es to the "domain users" of my new DC "b.net". I would log onto other servers and attemp to give permission to one of their shares. But it would work only once, with some delays in pulling my users list in the "select Users, Computers, or Groups" dialog box. The second attempt on another share would fail with the following error: "cannot display objects from this location because of the following error: The server is not operational".
The second error with my new DC came from another remote domain across a T3. The remote domain had an NT 4.0 Server. The trust was fine, the routers were properly configured to recognise my IP addresses, but the operator on that remote location could not pull the user list of my "b.net" domain. He was getting the following error: "the handle is invalid".
I spend 2-3 days checking everything possible to find the source of this problem. I compared every single setting with other domains that didn't have this situation, until I decided to not try to make any sense with the wording of these errors, and went on to look for a more basic source.
I happened to click on the "License" option in the control panel and found out that some ignorant operator had removed ALL Windows Server licenses on this server!!! I put back the few hundred licenses I have, and all the errors/problems listed above stopped. This made me laugh for a while. I even had to tell my wife the whole story even though she is not working in this field. She laughed too - I mean why would someone remove all server licenses on a domain server - hello!
I later on found out that the operator who removed all licenses had many problems with this powerful DELL server, and that is why he abandonned it. He never pulled the strings to find out the real "WHY", but instead blamed the machine or the operating system.
Well I am glad I persisted, because this server is now mine. Hopefully, you guys can refer to this write-up if you ever get these types of errors. I don't wish anyone to spend the time I did to find such dumb "mistake".
Arlem,
I put together a new DC "b.net" to take over a multitude of mis-configured domains. Once I had everything working perfect (DNS, AD, trusts, etc.), and having NO error in the Event Viewer, I begun to give access to shares of other domains and NAS'es to the "domain users" of my new DC "b.net". I would log onto other servers and attemp to give permission to one of their shares. But it would work only once, with some delays in pulling my users list in the "select Users, Computers, or Groups" dialog box. The second attempt on another share would fail with the following error: "cannot display objects from this location because of the following error: The server is not operational".
The second error with my new DC came from another remote domain across a T3. The remote domain had an NT 4.0 Server. The trust was fine, the routers were properly configured to recognise my IP addresses, but the operator on that remote location could not pull the user list of my "b.net" domain. He was getting the following error: "the handle is invalid".
I spend 2-3 days checking everything possible to find the source of this problem. I compared every single setting with other domains that didn't have this situation, until I decided to not try to make any sense with the wording of these errors, and went on to look for a more basic source.
I happened to click on the "License" option in the control panel and found out that some ignorant operator had removed ALL Windows Server licenses on this server!!! I put back the few hundred licenses I have, and all the errors/problems listed above stopped. This made me laugh for a while. I even had to tell my wife the whole story even though she is not working in this field. She laughed too - I mean why would someone remove all server licenses on a domain server - hello!
I later on found out that the operator who removed all licenses had many problems with this powerful DELL server, and that is why he abandonned it. He never pulled the strings to find out the real "WHY", but instead blamed the machine or the operating system.
Well I am glad I persisted, because this server is now mine. Hopefully, you guys can refer to this write-up if you ever get these types of errors. I don't wish anyone to spend the time I did to find such dumb "mistake".
Arlem,
