Re: XP wireless operation question...

This is a somewhat common problem these days (and is even worse if trying to
use roaming profiles). Most wireless adaptors will not establish a
connection until a user logon has completed, and just as you say, this is a
catch-22 in a domain environment. (I've seen some issues even in a
workgroup environment when wanting to run batch files on start up to map
resources, as the wireless connection is often established too late in the
user local logon process.) There doesn't seem to be any real solution.
I've seen claims that there are a few WNICs that may work differently, but
don't have any specific info. to offer on that.
--

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ups.com...
> All:
>
> Could someone describe for me (or perhaps point to an MS web page) that
> describes the protocol/process used by an XP Pro client to authenticate
> in a domain environment at a) the machine level (when the machine logs
> into the domain via its trust account), b) the user level, c) the
> network level, when it connects to a secured wireless network.
>
> My question revolves what I perceive as a catch-22 in the way XP Pro
> clients behave. An XP Pro client will not automatically select a
> wireless network; the user must do so. However, for a user to log in,
> he must authenticate to the domain, implying a secure wireless
> connection has already been selected and connection established, which
> supposedly can't be done before login!
>
> See the dilemma? Can't connect wirelessly until user picks a
> connection; user can't pick a connection until he logs in; can't log in
> until he connects....
>
> There's a link missing in that chain, so if someone can explain how we
> overcome this merry-go-round, I'd appreciate it. I've tried looking on
> MS and other sites for an explanation and have come up dry. I have to
> think I'm just not understanding some aspect of the protocol correctly.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> dew
>
> ps Please reply to group; email here is long since dead.
>

That's not so strange. What you are describing is a local logon under the
domain user based on cached credentials. This doesn't establish a
connection to the server. Login scripts won't run this way, roaming
profiles won't load, etc. It's useful up to a point (e.g. allows using your
domain member laptop at home with the same basic user profile), but doesn't
address the real issue.
--

"rahan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ups.com...
> Windows XP pro SP2 seems to have a (strange) behaviour to workaround
> this problem:
> When a wireless device is detected, then the logon domain process does
> not
> really happen. In place it display the logon window but let you login
> even if there
> is no connection to the domain controller.
>
> I observed this behaviour in our laptop parc:
> - laptop without wifi cannot login if not connected with the PDC
> - laptop with builtin wifi or on which wifi have been installed later
> are able to log you in even there is not (wired or wireless) connection
> to the PDC
>
> Our PDC is running NT4, laptop are running XP pro SP2
>
> Hope it helps
>