Windows 7 Beta Can't Join Domains with Names Exceeding 15 Characters

Following the availability of Windows 7 client Beta and Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta, Microsoft revealed that neither of the next versions of its Windows operating systems were able to join domains with names exceeding 15 characters in length. Any attempt to join Windows 7 client Beta or Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta machines to a Domain Name System (DNS) with a 15+ character domain name would result in an error message, the company informed - “The attempt to join this computer to the << domain_name >>.com domain failed. The parameter is incorrect.”

Microsoft revealed that this scenario would take place if “[users] try to join a Windows 7-based or a Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer to an existing domain by using the System Properties user interface, the Netdom.exe command, an unattended setup, the Djoin.exe command, or another mechanism. [And if users] try to use the Active Directory Installation Wizard (Dcpromo.exe) to install Active Directory Domain Services on a member server.”

The company emphasized that the issue only affected (DNS) domain names with 15 characters before the dot (.). This means that Windows 7 Beta and Windows Server 2008 Beta will fail to play nice with DNS domain names of 16 characters, for example. However, computers running the next iterations of the Windows client and server platforms, even in Beta, can be joined to domains with names no longer than 15 characters without any problems.

“Consider the following sample domain names: Northwindtraders.com has 16 characters before the dot. Therefore, this domain name returns the error message. Contoso.com has 7 characters before the dot. Therefore, this domain name does not return an error message. Fabrikam.treyresearch.litwareinc.com has 8 characters before the dot. Therefore, this domain name does not return an error message,” Microsoft explained.

The Redmond company is offering a hotfix for affected users, but has failed to indicate when it will resolve this issue permanently. The fix will have to be downloaded straight from Microsoft.

Windows 7 Beta is available for download here.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta (Windows 7 Server Beta) is available for download here.