Can't log on because Domain is not available

A friend just upgraded from Win98SE to Win2000 on a computer that was used. Things worked well for a couple of days, but she can no longer boot up; she recieves a message that says she "can not logon because domain Smith is not available." The user name listed on that screen is the name of the previous owner, Jones, which she was given no opportunity to change when upgrading. However, his password is simply the entry key. How she acquired the domain of Smith, I am not certain. Nor do I know why it is not available. Further, since it is asking for the password of the original owner, I'm not sure why Smith is relevant at all. She had installed Outlook from at MSWindows 97 cd just prior to this problem occurring. Right now the computer is useless except for DOS.

 

Is your friend actually on a domain-style network?

And the username that shows up on the logon screen is simply the last successful logon name. The first time she succeeds, it will default to her name.

If the PC is either not networked or on a peer network but different than the one it came from, she will need to find out a local username that was previously put on the PC.

Possibly the PC was left with the default local username of Adminstrator and a blank password. In that case and assuming the PC was on a domain and isn't now, the key will be to change the line at the bottom of the logon screen (below the username line and the password line) from the domain name to the local PC name. On the login screen if only two lines are showing, there should be an Options button. Click that and the 3rd line should show up. Click on the arrow at the right side of the line for a dropdown list and you should see a name and a notation that it is the local PC name. Pick that and try using Administrator as the username.

 

Newt, thanks for the reply. Problem solved, however. I reinstalled Win2000 and selected the option of "no network ", which is the case.

 

I think that was the best course of action you could have selected.