Ubuntu - Joining / Logging into Windows Domains

Problem

You have a Linux client machine, and you want to authenticate to, and log into a Windows domain. I don't have too much history with Linux, but from what I've read this used to be a nightmare. Using Ubuntu (10.10) I did have a couple of hiccups, but I did get there in the end.

Note: The domain controller is a Windows 2008 R2 Server.

Solution

Notes

1. The commands needed to install the "likewise-open5" package, and join the domain, (assuming the FQDN of the domain is domaina.com and the user name you are using to join the domain is administrator).

2. Then to allow users to logon from the Ubuntu welcome screen,

3. Add the following line (the file will probably be empty), to Save press CTRL+X, then Y, then {enter}.

4. Then reboot.

5. To allow sudo for the domain user(s),

Locate the line that reads "\\#Members of the Admin group may gain root privileges and do the following:". Below that, type the following (assuming the domain name is domaina and the user is a member of the domain admins group, domain^users also works).

Problem 1

Error: Lsass Error [code 0x00080047]

9502 (0x251E) DNS_ERROR_BAD_PACKET - A bad packet was received from a DNS server. Potentially the requested address does not exist.

This plagued me for a while, I tried everything I read online (like making sure that my time was correct - which it wasn't (see below), making sure firewalls were off (they were), make sure your DNS has a reverse lookup zone (mine has), and finally make sure there are no existing DNS records for the IP address you are connecting with (mine did so I deleted them). None of these fixed the problem, to fix it is annoyingly simple.