ESXi host fails to join domain with error, ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Attempting to join an ESXi host to an Active Directory domain fails with the error: ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND [code 0x00000002]

The output of command: "/usr/lib/vmware/likewise/bin/lwsm list" shows:

# /usr/lib/vmware/likewise/bin/lwsm list
lwreg       running (sm: #######)
eventlog    stopped
lsass       stopped
lwio        stopped
netlogon    dead
rdr         stopped

A manual start of lwsmd shows:
# /etc/init.d/lwsmd start

[starting lsass service] Starting service dependency: netlogon
Error: LW_ERROR_SERVICE_UNRESPONSIVE (41203)
The service is not responding to requests
Failed to query status from LSA service.  Error code 2 (ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND).

Cause

The likewise DB contains unexpected entries.
Location of the DB: /etc/likewise/db/registry.db

Resolution

• Follow the steps in ESXI host fails to join domain (start of lwsmd service will fail with error "LW_ERROR_NO_SUCH_SERVICE") to replace the bad registry.db file with a good file from a working host.