Network path not found when trying to change computer name

Question

I am having an odd networking issue. I have a VM running Windows Server 2008 R2 but they are doing NAT and have it set up for DHCP. I pointed it to our development DNS servers but kept the IP address as DHCP, otherwise I wouldn't be able to access the VM.

After that I was able to add it to my domain no problem. Now I have it on my domain and can log in with my domain admin credentials. However, I cannot change the computer name which seems really odd considering it is obviously a member of my domain.

When I try I get "the network path was not found" but how can it be that it was able to attach to my domain and recognize my domain admin credentials but won't allow me to change the computer name?

Answer 1

The issue may be tied to already being on the domain. Typically with windows you want to set the hostname prior to joining. Try moving back to a workgroup, change the hostname, and then rejoin the domain. Make sure to follow the prompt to restart between each step.

Answer 2

I was able to resolve this by entering my domain suffix in my netowrk IPv4 advanced settings. It looks like the VM was set up to resolve specific domain suffixes (instead of having the "resolve primary..." checkbox marked) and my domain wasn't in there. After adding it and restarting I was able to change the name without issue.