Archive for May 6th, 2008

I was called by a client whom has recently purchased a laptop with XP Media Center 2005.  Of course joining the domain on his company’s network was not going to happen because the option was ‘greyed out.’

So what did I do? Google baby….  Found out that there is a single registry key hack that enables and disables this feature. Here are the steps to re-enable, and be able to join a domain.

1. Insert any Windows XP CD.
2. Boot to the CD and choose ‘Recovery Console’
3. Select the installation to log onto (default: 1) and press Enter. (Most likely the administrator password will be blank. If
it is not enter the password you set or contact the manufacturer.)
4. Type cd system32\config and press Enter.
5. Type copy SYSTEM c:\ and press Enter.
6. Type exit and press Enter.
7. Boot the PC back into Windows
8. Start > Run > Type: regedit and press Enter.
9. Click on ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE’.
10. File > Load Hive…
11. Browse and select C:\SYSTEM
12. Specify key name ‘TEMP’ and click OK.
13. Expand: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > TEMP > WPA > MedCtrUpg
14. Change the IsLegacyMCE value to 1 and click ok.(one, not an L)
15. Click on TEMP subkey (under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE).
16. File > Unload Hive. Confirm.
17. Reboot the PC.
18. Boot into the Recovery Console using the Windows CD again
19. Select the installation to log onto (default: 1) and press Enter.
20. Type cd\ and press Enter.
21. Type copy SYSTEM C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM and press Enter.(Choose ‘yes’ to overwrite)
22. Type del SYSTEM and press Enter.
23. Type exit and press Enter.
24. Boot up Windows.
25. The ‘Join Domain’ option should no longer be grayed
out.

And you’re done…