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Is there a simple way to have a laptop live in both a workgroup and a domain?

What is the best way to house a workgroup and a domain on the same laptop using win2000? At work I use a domain. At home I use a workgroup (for Internet sharing and printer sharing). I would like to choose the location on login, i.e. to add a workgroup option to the domain list. Is it possible? How?

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There is no simple way to have a laptop live in both a workgroup and a domain. It must be one or the other. By leaving the laptop in a domain and by logging into that domain at home, you can still accomplish what you need to do in the home workgroup.

Keep your password on the home print server in sync with your domain password so you won't be bothered with credentials. (Or upgrade to XP to take advantage of the Credentials Manager.) Getting access to the Internet from home via the ICS gateway is just a matter of acquiring an address and configuration information from the ICS machine. Your domain affiliation would have no affect on that transaction. I doubt if you want to browse resources in the home network, so keeping the laptop in the work domain won't be a problem for locating resources.

Let me know if there is a particular problem you're having at home with the laptop because of its domain membership.

This was first published in October 2001

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