Hi,

If you raised your domain functional level to W2k3 you would not be able to
join NT 4.0 domains to the forest or W2k domains. You are talking about
upgrading the NT 4.0 domain to W2k3 which should suit you just fine. If
you were trying to migrate you would have issues. Upgrade the NT 4.0
domain to W2k3 and you can do whatever you want including changing
the domain name.

"Need " <Need@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:
> Hello. We currently have an Active Directory forest in place. We currently
> have four domains in the forest. Three of them are child domains. The
> "Domain
> Functional Level" for all the domains is Windows 2003.
>
> We have a separate domain that is still running NT 4 with about 100
> clients.
> I would like to know if it's still possible to upgrade this domain to
> Windows
> 2003 as a domain controller and join the Active Directory as a child
> domain.
> I found some knowledge base articles that this would not work because the
> "Domain Functional Level" is Windows 2003. Could someone confirm that this
> is
> the case. Is there a work around to some how upgrade NT 4 domain and be
> part
> of the Active Directory?
>
> Assuming that I am able to upgrade the NT 4 domain and make it part of the
> Active Directory as a child domain, should I be concerned with the domain
> name? For example, my NT 4 domain name is "dom1". In my Active Directory,
> the
> root domain is "xyz.pvt".
>
> Currrently, all user workstations in the NT 4 domain know the domain name
> as "dom1". If I were able to upgrade the NT 4 domain and make it a child
> domain in the Active Directory, will the user workstations (Windows NT,
> Winddows 2000 and Windows XP) in NT 4 domain continue to use the NT domain
> name: dom1 or will they be using: dom1.xyz.pvt? I would like to preserve
> user
> profiles that are local on user's workstations without having to create
> new
> ones. The goal is also to do an in place upgrade on the NT 4 PDC so I can
> preserve all the user accounts and passwords.
>
> I know new workstations joining the domain will use dom1.xyz.pvt. But what
> about the current workstations that were there during the upgrade? Will
> they
> continue to use dom1 or dom1.xyz.pvt?
> If the user workstations are still using the NT 4 domain name: dom1 after
> upgrading the domain controllers to join the Active Directory forest, will
> I
> have any unforseen problems such as propogating security policies or
> accessing resources with other domains in the forest?
>
> I never went through this type of scenario and I'm afraid of the negative
> impact it might have. I would appreciate any feedback and explanations.
> Thanks in advance.