Network logon delay

babs

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Here's an odd one I can't seem to get around. Here in the office we run a windows 2000 (small business) server with domain controller. The office network is made up of various machines running a mixture of win2k pro and xp pro. When logging on to the network on a win2k machine, it gets to a usable state within about 30 seconds. On the XP machines though it seems to hang for 30-90 seconds on the 'applying personal settings'. I can't seem to find out why though.

My only thought was that maybe it's downloading a roaming profile from the server on every logon on some and not others. Another thing I saw was a Knowledgebase article saying that if a slow network connection was detected, the local profile is used, otherwise downloaded again. This doesn't make much sense in my situation as it was nice and fast when I had a 2K desktop, but my current XP install suffers.

Anyone else come up against this or know of a fix?
 

RedVenom

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Jan 22, 2004
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Whats the network connection? If you're on BNC or AUI, I'd suggest changing your network topology to a Cat5-centric mesh/star layout. You can also boost the speed of this by not having each user with their own dedicated bandwidth.

Also you might want to check what version of XP you are running, as I understand it there's also a 'home' version, which maybe the cause of your delays??
 

Xavier

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I'm guessing you're using 10 or 100mbps ethernet if you're getting the speeds you quote on your W2k machines, so I'll skip questions on age-old network topologies...

Is your network running using DHCP? Slow login can be due to missing WINS settings, or a dodgy OU configuration in the active directory. What server os is running on the PDC? (NT4, W2k, W2k3)

As to RV's comments about XP Home - ignore it, XP home can't even connect to a domain, so network login isn't an option.

Xav
 

pgh

Fledgling Freddie
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Dec 23, 2003
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Kinda similar thing here but hasnt been fixed at all. As im just like a regular employee without access to the servers etc all I know is that all these machines run on Win2k with the exceptions of some workers personal lappys being XP.

It takes approx a full 2/3 minutes to get into any computer anywhere in the office which includes Switching On, Starting Up, Inserting Smart Card and Password, Applying that users settings/profile then loaded. It seems to take the most time when receiving and applying a users personal settings. At first I thought it was just Win 2k being a lil bitch but even the lappys did it.. then, when they reconfigured the whole network, for the second time in a month, (arround approx 300 users at once tbh.), changing bits here and there it still occours.. if anything, takes longer at some times. Ofc, its running 10/100mb network with a phat Government == Internet connection. :]
 

babs

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TBH I was going to ignore RV the same as usual :) Noone has dedicated bandwidth, the PDC is running W2K, and yes, staggeringly it's XP Pro just as I originally said.

It's all cat5 running through our patch panel to a pair of 24 port Cisco 2950s. The network does run DHCP yes, I'll have a look at the WINS/DNS settings later when I get a chance.
 

MrBlack

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Dec 24, 2003
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Just to eliminate one thing: Are you using roaming profiles?

They can put a nasty choke on any logon, but that usually affects 2k+xp the same, so this might not be what you're having trouble with.

MrB.
 

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