Issue

Users can’t login on a single workstation in Windows Server 2008R domain. Following error message is displayed:

The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed.

There are no other issues on the network and none of the other computers are affected.

Cause

After logging-on to the PC with a local admin account and checking recent system logs, I found following issues that could have caused the problem:

• The PC has recently tried to install bunch of Windows Updates and failed.
• The PC has recently suffered an improper shutdown.

Not sure if these occurred at the same time, but I think it’s reasonable to assume that on (or both) of the above issues caused the PC to lose trust relationship with a domain controller.

Resolution

First of all I tried to reset the computer account via Active Directory Users and Computers. That didn’t make any difference. Then, while logged on as a local administrator, I removed the PC from the domain (joined WORKGROUP) and then immediately re-added it to the domain. After a reboot the PC was functioning properly.

Windows Server 2008R2
Windows 7 SP1