"You Have Exceeded the Maximum Number of Computer Accounts" Error Message When You Try to Join a Windows XP Computer to a Windows 2000 Domain

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This article was previously published under Q314462

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SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to join a Microsoft Windows XP Professional computer to a Microsoft Windows 2000 domain, you may receive the following error message:

The following error occurred attempting to join the domain "domain.com".

Your computer could not be joined to the domain. You have exceeded the maximum number of computer accounts you are allowed to create in this domain. Contact your system administrator to have this limit reset or increased.

Note that domain.com is the name of the domain that you are attempting to join.

NOTE: You may receive this error message after the number of workstations that you attempt to join to the domain exceeds 10.

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CAUSE

In a Windows 2000 domain, the maximum number of machine accounts that any authenticated user can join to a domain is 10.

NOTE: This maximum-limit value can be changed in the Active Directory.

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