netdiag

Netdiag is a command-line diagnostic tool that you can use to test network connectivity and the key network status. These tests and information will give network administrators and support personnel a more direct means of identifying and isolating network problems.

Netdiag is included with the Windows 2000 Support Tools. To install the Support Tools, run Setup.exe from the Support\Tools folder on the Windows 2000 CD-ROM. To download Netdiag, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

1. To test the domain controller in your domain, type the following line, and then press ENTER: netdiag /v /l /test:dsgetdc

2. To display the IPSec policy, type the following line, and then press ENTER: netdiag /test:ipsec /debug

"[Fatal] Failed to Get System Information" Error Message Occurs When You Run Netdiag

Symptom: When you run the Netdiag tool, you receive the following error message: [Fatal] Failed to get system information of this machine.

Resolution: To resolve this issue, start the Computer Management console, click Services, and then start the Remote Registry service.

"The procedure entry point DnsGetMaxNumberOfAddressToRegister could not belocated in the dynamiclink library DNSAPI.dll." error when running netdiag on XP

Make sure you are running the version form XP CD. There is a possibility that you have a W2K version of netdiag installed explicitly - there was a download from KB. Or you may just upgrade the OS from w2k to XP. To fix this problem, you may want to re-install it. To re-install, run XP CD at \Support\Tools\SUPTOOLS.MSI and select "Remove all". After it is done, launch it again to install appropriate version of support tools.

Netdiag /fix switch is very useful tool to correct issues with DNS and domain controller tests. 1. DNS Test: If the computer is a domain controller, Netdiag verifies all the DNS entries in the Netlogon.dns file to determine if they are correct and updates the appropriate entries if there is a problem. 2. Domain Controller Test: If the domain GUID cached in a local computer on your primary domain is different than the domain GUID saved in a domain controller, Netdiag tries to update the domain GUID on the local computer.