SharePoint Server 2010 and Virtual Machine

This post describes the problems that I went through installing SharePoint Server 2010 on a Virtual Machine and the solution.

Recently I re-installed my SharePoint Server 2010 in a farm environment. I installed it on VMware Clone Virtual Machine (VM). Everything when well, I'm able to log in using local accounts. Then I realized that the VM should be on a domain. This is when all the drama begins.

1. 1. Join the domain but run into “The following error occurred attempting to join the domain “ysatech”; the network path was not found”. To resolve this behavior, make sure that the IP addresses of the DNS and WINS servers on your network are specified correctly in your TCP/IP settings. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/285182
2. Ok, now I can login into the server using my domain account but can't login to SharePoint Central Administration or any of the web applications using the domain account. I try to uninstall and reinstalled the SharePoint 2010 Server but no luck. The log file reveal the following error “Domain sid inconsistent”
3. After some research, I found out that it has something to do with the Security Identifier (SID) of the operating system. It happened because I created a clone from a Virtual Machine that hosting the Domain Controller. I downloaded and ran the PsGetSid tool and confirmed that both servers were using the same SID.
4. So the next step is to figure out a way to modify the SID. Found the solution on Google “How to change SID on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 using sysprep?” That web page provides a very clear instruction on how to use the The System Preparation tool (Sysprep) tool to solve the SID issue.
5. Don't forget to rejoin the domain again after running the Sysprep tool.
6. The drama is not finished yet! I still can't login using domain account. Eventually, uninstalled and reinstalled the SharePoint Server 2010 solved the issue.

I hope someone will find this post useful.