Cannot join client to domain (non virtual, DNS issue)

Solution 1:

A Windows client doesn't need a DNS suffix in order to join an Active Directory domain. The process (for various client TCP/IP settings) is as follows:

When joining the domain using the NetBIOS name of the domain:

If the client has a DNS suffix then it issues a DNS query using it's own suffix. If the client DNS suffix matches the AD DNS suffix then a single DNS query is sufficient for the client to locate the appropriate resources. If the client receives an NXDOMAIN response because the client DNS suffix doesn't match the AD DNS suffix, then the client issues a NetBIOS name query looking for a domain controller for the NetBIOS domain name. Note that this is a broadcast query to the subnet broadcast address. If the client doesn't have a DNS suffix then it issues only a NetBIOS name query. The client has no way to issue a query using the AD DNS suffix because it isn't known to the client when attempting to join the domain using the NetBIOS name of the domain (unless the client DNS suffix matches the AD DNS suffix). The client can only use it's own DNS suffix, and failing that, fall back to issuing a NetBIOS name query.

When joining the domain using the DNS name of the domain:

If the client DNS suffix matches the AD DNS suffix then a single DNS query is sufficient for the client to locate the appropriate resources. If the client DNS suffix doesn't match the AD DNS suffix then the client issues a DNS query first using it's own suffix and upon receiving an NXDOMAIN response issues a DNS query using the AD DNS suffix. If the client doesn't have a DNS suffix then it issues a query using only the AD DNS suffix of the domain it's attempting to join. No NetBIOS query is needed in this scenario because the AD DNS suffix is known to the client.