Windows Server: Error When Testing the Secure Channel of the PDC Emulator: "Domain does not Exist or Could not be Contacted"
Summary: Testing the secure channel on an Active Directory (AD) domain controller (DC) which holds the PDC Emulator role results in an error. This error indicates that the domain either does not exist or could not be contacted. This does not indicate a problem with the secure channel. ...
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This article does not apply to
This article is not tied to any specific product.
Not all product versions are identified in this article.
Symptoms
The Test-ComputerSecureChannel PowerShell command returns the error "The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted" when run on the PDC Emulator.
Other commands for testing the secure channel, such as nltest /sc_query, nltest /sc_verify, and netdom verify, also return similar errors on the PDC Emulator.
Cause
The cause is not known. This behavior is consistent, but the underlying issue does not appear to be documented anywhere.
Resolution
These errors are expected when these commands are run on the PDC Emulator. They alone do not indicate a problem with the secure channel.
If a broken secure channel is suspected, other means must be used to confirm this. In general, if AD replication is functional between DCs and the various AD consoles do not return errors, the secure channel is intact. Several errors commonly indicate a broken secure channel:
- The target principal name is incorrect.
- The target account name is incorrect.
- The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed.
- The security database on the server does not have a computer account for this workstation trust relationship.
Repairing a broken secure channel is outside the scope of this article.
Affected Products
Microsoft Windows Server 2016, Microsoft Windows Server 2019, Microsoft Windows Server 2022Products
PowerEdge XR2, Poweredge C4140, PowerEdge C6420, PowerEdge C6520, PowerEdge C6525, PowerEdge C6615, PowerEdge C6620, PowerEdge FC640, PowerEdge M640, PowerEdge M640 (for PE VRTX), PowerEdge MX5016s, PowerEdge MX740C, PowerEdge MX750c
, PowerEdge MX760c, PowerEdge MX840C, PowerEdge R240, PowerEdge R250, PowerEdge R260, PowerEdge R340, PowerEdge R350, PowerEdge R360, PowerEdge R440, PowerEdge R450, PowerEdge R540, PowerEdge R550, PowerEdge R640, PowerEdge R6415, PowerEdge R650, PowerEdge R650xs, PowerEdge R6515, PowerEdge R6525, PowerEdge R660, PowerEdge R660xs, PowerEdge R6615, PowerEdge R6625, PowerEdge R740, PowerEdge R740XD, PowerEdge R740XD2, PowerEdge R7415, PowerEdge R7425, PowerEdge R750, PowerEdge R750XA, PowerEdge R750xs, PowerEdge R7515, PowerEdge R7525, PowerEdge R760, PowerEdge R760XA, PowerEdge R760xd2, PowerEdge R760xs, PowerEdge R7615, PowerEdge R7625, PowerEdge R840, PowerEdge R860, PowerEdge R940, PowerEdge R940xa, PowerEdge R960, PowerEdge T140, PowerEdge T150, PowerEdge T160, PowerEdge T340, PowerEdge T350, PowerEdge T360, PowerEdge T440, PowerEdge T550, PowerEdge T560, PowerEdge T640, PowerEdge XR11, PowerEdge XR12, PowerEdge XR8610t, PowerEdge XR8620t
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Article Properties
Article Number: 000226052
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 07 Jan 2025
Version: 4
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