How to fix “The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed”, without rejoining the domain!
I have tried the suggestions previously when I first heard about it and for the life of me it just wouldn’t work. I thought I was typing it wrong, until I found the problem I was having and the solution to fix the solution. 🙂 No one else tells us this important missing step. I’ll walk you through all the steps in detail with explanations which are missing on many websites.
You must be using PowerShell version 3 or higher. That’s the big step missing in many websites instructions and what I was missing why the fix wouldn’t work for me at first.
- Open PowerShell on your computer as Admin.
- Check the version by typing $psversiontable and press enter.
- Make sure it shows the first line “PSVersion” as 3.0 or greater. Mine is 5.1 because it’s Windows 10. On Windows 7 you will have Version 2 by default and must upgrade it. (See image below)
- If you don’t have at least version3 you must check this link for instructions on updating based on your operating system. https://msdn.microsoft.com/powershell/scripting/setup/installing-windows-powershell
- Once you have updated PowerShell, open it as Admin.
- Type in the following command exactly as it is here. $PSCredential = Get-Credential
- Press enter and it asks you to login as the domain administrator and it’s password. Do so and press OK.
- Next type in the following command while filling in the part in red with your information. Reset-ComputerMachinePassword -Server DomainControllerName -Credential $PSCredential
Make sure to change the text in red to the name of your Domain Controller. For example, if your domain name was CONTOSO then you would use the following command:
Reset-ComputerMachinePassword -Server CONTOSO -Credential $PSCredential - Press enter and you’re done.
- Log out as the local computer admin and login as your domain user and will work this time.
