Error: The name or security ID (SID) of the domain specified is inconsistent with the trust information for that domain

Ever seen this error while working with Virtual PC images?

The name or security ID (SID) of the domain specified is inconsistent with the trust information for that domain.

This can happen if you create a copy of the virtual PC image. For example, let’s say you’ve created a couple of Virtual PC images of Windows Server 2003 by copying one to another. You then promote the first image successfully to a Domain Controller. You join the second image successfully to the domain as a client or member server. However, when you try to logon to the second computer you get the above error regarding the SID.

Here’s the possible cause. By recreating the Virtual Machine Console file you’ve gotten rid of the duplicate MAC address of the network interface card on your guest computer. However, the problem you are running into has to do with the SID. You need to find a way to ensure that the second computer is using a different SID.
One solution is to download NEWSID.EXE from Microsoft. This is a free tool that will allow you to change your computer’s SID on a Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 computer.

To confirm that you have a duplicate SID issue you can use another free tool called PsGetSid. Another solution, that’s supported by Microsoft, is to use SysPrep. However, you will find that newside.exe is much easier to use than SysPrep.