Long story short. A new machine was added to our domain with the same machine name as a pre-existing machine.
Rather than receiving an error from the domain when this was being done, it simply replaced the older machine. As a result, the user is no longer able to login to the domain on the old machine.
How can I rejoin that machine to the domain without losing that user's data/configuration?
The quick solution seems to be unjoin the domain using the local admin user on that machine and then rejoining it. However, I believe this will create a new user when the user logs back in meaning they'll lose everything they have setup such as desktop icons and programs installed only for that user.
How can I get around this problem?
Best Answer
Remove client from domain, rename client, rejoin domain. The user account and configuration should be there unless there's something else going on.