Error – The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed

Ever had a user that has gone on a trip and did not connect his/her device to the company network?
And when they get back, they get the error “The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed” when trying to logon?

What is the cause?
As from Windows 2000 there is a security feature that automatic changes the local computer account password periodically.

Howto solve this issue?
Logon as local administrator, remove the device from the domain, rejoin the device to the domain… and logon 🙂

Howto prevent this issue?
With the following registry setting:

Key: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters
Name: DisablePasswordChange
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1 (to solve this issue)


2 comments

  1. Anonymous says:

    Erhm which Windows are you running? Vista – Win7?

  2. Jeff Wouters says:

    I’m using Win7 on the device I experienced the issue on.

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