Tech

Windows 11 Cannot Join Domain

The specified network name is no longer available.

While attempting to add my first Windows 11 desktop to a Windows 2012 based domain I kept consistently getting a seemingly DNS related issue. Once clicking OK in the computer name dialog a second or so would go be and a “The specified network name is no longer available” error would pop up.

This led me down a rabbit hole of DNS testing and verification and continued “network name is no longer available” errors.

NetJoin Error 64, Status 0x40

After far too long testing DNS and nltest commands I happened across an article that mentioned SMB 1…

I had totally forgotten Windows 10+ only talked SMB1 to Windows 2008/2012 servers.

Once I enabled SMB 1.0 in Windows settings I was able to join the Windows 11 desktop to the domain with no problems at all.

If all else fails – check to see if you can connect to the domain controller file shares… If not, check your SMB client settings.