How To Create a Computer Object in the Active Directory for a Windows NT 4.0 BDC

In the Active Directory, computer accounts created in Server Manager are displayed as user objects. Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 (and earlier versions) BDC computer accounts are displayed as user objects if they were created with Server Manager or during installation. The user objects for down-level computer accounts exist in the Users container by default, with the name of the computer followed by a dollar sign ($). The computer account works as a user object, but looks like a user instead of a computer when you are browsing the directory. There are added features for computer management that you can use as a computer object. This article describes how to create a computer object in the Active Directory that serves as the computer account for down-level BDCs. Both ADSI Edit and NLTEST are in the Windows 2000 Support Tools which are located on the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM. Run Setup.exe from the Support\Tools folder on the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM.

Creating a Computer Object for a Down-level BDC

1. If a computer account already exists for the BDC, delete the account.
2. In the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, create a computer object in the appropriate container with the name of the BDC.
3. Start ADSI Edit and view the userAccountControl property for the new computer object.
4. Change the value of the userAccountControl object to 8192 (decimal) from the default of 4128.
5. If the BDC is already installed, use Netdom.exe to reset the computer account password.
6. If the BDC is not already installed, proceed with installation.

For more information about using Netdom.exe to reset the computer account, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: