There error comes in many forms one of the forms are “The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed.” If you’re able to log into the machine as a local admin it’s easy, you just do the following.

  1. Use a local administrator account to log on to the computer.
  2. Select Start, press and hold (or right-click) Computer > Properties.
  3. Select Change settings next to the computer name.
  4. On the Computer Name tab, select Change.
  5. Under the Member of heading, select Workgroup, type a workgroup name, and then select OK.
  6. When you are prompted to restart the computer, select OK.
  7. On the Computer Name tab, select Change again.
  8. Under the Member of heading, select Domain, and then type the domain name.
  9. Select OK, and then type the credentials of the user who has permissions in the domain.
  10. When you are prompted to restart the computer, select OK.
  11. Restart the computer.

If you don’t have access to local administrator you can do these additional steps (you will have to have administrative shell access via RemoteUtilites, ConnectWise, SolarWinds, etc).

  1. Enable default administrator

    NET USER administrator /active:yes

  2. Change default admin password

    NET USER administrator genericPasswordHere

  3. Now do the steps above.

  4. Now the server is back on the domain go ahead and login with domain credentials and make sure it’s working.

  5. If it’s working you can now remove the default administrator account you spun up.

    NET USER administrator /active:yes

  6. You should now be good to go.