I got my install working on server08r2 with openfire3.8.2 by doing the following:
- stop all instances of openfire, including openfire service
- uninstall openfire using uninstaller C:\Program Files (x86)\openfire\uninstall.exe
- search registry for "openfire"
- delete all keys and parent keys if it made sense
- disabled windows firewall for domain profile
- created a normal user in AD called "openfire admin" with a username "openfire" with a password that met password policies
- added openfire user to Domain Admins
- reinstalled openfire
- host was dev08r2.domain.local
- Base DN was dn=domain,dn=local
- Administrator DN was openfire@domain.local
- keep defaults on steps 2 and 3
I was able to add an administrator user account just fine.
I think the issue lies in the fact that once a setup fails, something in the registry might be borked. once i deleted all keys that contained openfire and re-installed, everything worked like a charm.
I know disabling the firewall and making the user a domain admin isn't the best practice security-wise, but this is being implemented entirely in VMWare player host network with VM clients. I'm only do this to provide a proof of concept for the people with higher paygrades.