Having trouble installing BIND on windows?

It is a nightmare. I agree. It took me a while to figure out how to set it up. Next time ask your questions in the forum instead of in PM. This way other people with the same question can conveniently get their answer.

Here's my setup. From which you will get an idea on how to do your setup:

Section 1: Location of files

[C:\Program Files\DNS\bin\]

In this folder I have all the executeables that came with BIND.

[C:\Program Files\DNS\etc]

In this folder I have all my configuration files. This includes:

named.conf --- main BIND configuration file
rndc.key --- required for rndc to manage your BIND server
root.hint --- a hint to BIND as to what the root servers are
named.pid --- created by BIND when running
example.com.zone --- zone file containing my example zone
1.0.0.127.IN-ADDR.ARPA.zone --- zone file for reverse lookup

[C:\Program Files\DNS\log]

I created this folder to store my log files in

[C:\Program Files\DNS\manual]

help files and other text files were placed in this folder

Section 2: Configuration

I'm not going to teach you how to configure your server. That's what the manual is for. However, for the intuitive and/or lazy or for those experiencing problems, I have provided my configuration files as a known working example.

http://www.dollardns.net/bind/

For those of you who wish to remotely test your BIND servers:

(warning, functional but not yet easy for DNS neophytes to use)
http://www.dollardns.net/cgi-bin/dnscrawler/index.pl

I have downloaded BIND on windows XP and allowed the install executable to make the appropriate changes, however when attempting to run BINDctrl i get a "system error 1067" message. Any solutions, or further steps?

Man, I tried searching all over the place to solve your error. It seems nobody else has ever asked your question. :-) The error itself simply means "The process terminated unexpectedly" or the constant ERROR_PROCESS_ABORTED. I could not find out what conditions may cause this error. So when the known symptoms are confusing or vague, you look for others.

Questions:
Is the BIND server running in process list?
Is the port 53 bound in the netstat list?
Can you make queries to the server and get a response? Even if it is just a server failure message?

And most importantly:

Is your configuration files in ANY WAY different from the KNOWN WORKING EXAMPLE I have offered you above?

uh oh... I found something wierd... I don't have the executeable BINDctrl, which makes me ask... what version of BIND did you download? I use rndc to manage the server.

okay, first I downloaded a version of BIND known as BIND9-PE (personal edition) which worked find. However, it was the incorrect vision. So, now I have BIND9.2.1 and like your it doesn't have the control executable.

I believe get a no socket connection message, how to correct this

I don't know. did you copy my config files into your etc folder and set everything up exactly like I have it? You see, I'm not in your shoes. I can't see or diagnose anything. You tell me an error but I know nothing about your setup. I can't see your configs or paths.

As for the error itself I'm clueless. socket CONNECTION?!? Does it mean it's having trouble binding the socket? cause otherwise no TCP connection needs be made. So check to make sure you don't have another dns server or something listening or bound to port 53.

okay, in my RNDC config file, my default port is 953. Is this what it should be? That port was computer selected.

read the "rndc-confgen.html" in your manual directory. rndc.key is my rndc config file. I left everything as default. You can too. But there's the manual if you'd like to customize something.

I also have the key file, however i created a config file as shown by the installation. However, anytime attempt to use rndc, for any reason i get an error stating: errno2result.61:c: unable to convert errno to isc_result: 10057: socket is not connected. rndc: send failed: connection refused

P.S. - I have used the files you provided, as given.

How do I check for the following:

Is the BIND server running in process list?
Is the port 53 bound in the netstat list?
Can you make queries to the server and get a response? Even if it is just a server failure message?

well I don't have a rndc config file. When there isn't a config, it uses the defaults. Perhaps something about your config is screwing it up. But now I know what the error is about I think. It is unable to connect to the BIND server to manage it. Perhaps the BIND server is not running. I'm guessing here. All I know is that I don't have any other config besides what I show above.

Press CTRL+ALT+DEL and select task manager.
Click the processes tab
Is there a named.exe listed there?

Click the start button
Click Run
Type 'cmd' and click enter
type ' netstat -an | find ":53" ' in the resulting dos window and hit enter
Did you have both TCP listening and UDP bound to port 53?

Don't worry about the queries for now.

Their was no named.exe in the processes tab, and netstat did not produce any results at the command prompt.

then the service is not running. I want to see if the BIND service is listed in the services list. Follow these instructions. (btw, that IS the reason you're getting errors)

Go to your control panel
double click administrative tools
double click services
right-click the "ISC BIND" entry in the list
select the "properties" menu item
choose "Automatic" in the "Startup type" dropdown
click the "Start" button
press 'OK'

Your server should now be running, and will startup when you login to windows with every boot.

If however, you don't have a ISC BIND service, then let me know.

Got an error message "Windows could not start ISC BIND on local computer. Error 1067 (remember that guy) 'Terminated Unexpectedly.'"

Do you think I should reformat my HDD and start from scratch with this one?

Now this is getting very familiar. I had the same problem when I improperly configured my server. It took me a while to figure out how to configure things. I think you can get better error description if you execute named.exe in the command prompt. I hope you know how to navigate yourself around in dos? execute named.exe in dos and it should spit out syntax errors etc.

I had an inspiration. Make sure the named.conf file reflects the proper relative path.

when i attempt to run named from the comand prompt it tells me "use -f to run from the command prompt"

I have now used the -g switch with named and a got the following report:

starting bind 9.2.1 -g
set maximum stack size to 0: not implemented
set maximum data size to 0: not implemented
set maximum core size to 0: not implemented
set maximum open files to 0: not implemeted
Listening on IPv4 interface loopback interface 1, 127.0.0.1#53
Listening on IPv4 interface TCP/IP interface 2, 192.168.1.100#53
Could not configure root hints from "root.hint" file not found
loading configuration: file not found
exiting due to fatal error