Wireless network / Active directory issue

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[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 7, 2002
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I'm setting up a network for training classes I run at my work and have hit a snag. I'm using laptops running Win 2k pro with built-in wireless and a Linksys wireless router that's physically plugged into a Win 2k Advanced Server box that's running Active Directory, and a Novell Netware box that's the Groupwise post office. When I set up the first laptop I was able to log on to the network just fine. Now I've finished imaging all the laptops and configuring the MAC address list on the router.

The problem is that I can't log onto the domain with the laptops anymore. The best I can do is log on using a cached account that was used before when it seemed to be working fine. When I try to log on with a different account I've been getting a "domain can't be found" error. Of course now when I go to check it again it logged on normally after having made no changes. This of course makes me a little nervous since I can't just hope it works when I need it to. The last unsuccesful attempt was made a good hour after the last change made to any configuration.

Signal strength is beautiful (better be, the laptop's only about 5 feet away from the router), and once I logged on with the cached accounts communication between the laptop and the 2 other boxes was just fine.

What should I be looking for here? I know it'll be shots in the dark since it's working now, but does anyone know about common causes for this.
 
I've run into this before. The way I fixed it was to statically assign the IP information to each wireless box. It seems like your wireless card isn't initializing fast enough to get the DHCP stuff in time for AD authentication. You can reboot and give it 5 minutes to see when it connects. I just listened for the sound effect it made. Also make sure your software is set to connect automatically if you have that option.
 
Tried that to no avail. If I ping the laptop from the Active Directory server I get no response until the laptop is at the desktop and logged in with a cached or local account...
 
Well I've narrowed it down some. It seems that the damned wireless NICs aren't even communicating until Wondows gets to the desktop. If I ping one of the laptops from the active directory server it won't respond until someone has logged on and it's at the desktop. Once an account is cached there's no problem, but getting it to log on the first time so it gets cached in the first place at this point will require having me plug the laptops into the network with a patch cable. Can anyone think of a good way to get the wireless NIC talking before logon?
 
Check binding order. Wireless cards should be first. My network places properties>advanced>Advanced settings.

The wireless software must run as a service and start with windows not the user. Your software may not have that function. Which cards are they?

You may need WinXP for this to work right.
 
What wireless utility are you using? The driver would load before the login screen but perhaps your utility is addressing WEP or other security concern and that probably wouldn't load until after you login. You should be able to configure WEP or whatever in the driver itself rather than using the utility.
 
The wirelsss connection is the first listed connection.

The utility is the Broadcom wireless configuration utility, and it doesn't start until the desktop loads. I had no problems with these laptops running Windows XP, but unfortunately one of the classes I teach is Windows 2000...
 
Is the wireless configuration service enabled on the laptops and set to automatic?
 
Windows 20000 doesn't have integrated support for Wireless Network cards... As you've noticed, the cards don't connect until the wireless net utility loads... Not much you can do about this AFAIK...

Since WinXP includes integrated wireless support it addresses the cards much more like a standard NIC and brings up the connection before machine authentication and user login...

Depending on how the NIC's control application loads, you may be able to keep the network connection running during a logoff / logon cycle... If the machine doesn't disconnect the network after the initial cached logon logs off, the second domain login may be successful.. This work-around, of course, won't solve any machine login issues though (applying machine GPO's, etc)....
 
I'm at work, on Windows 2000, and I have the wirless configuration service. start>run>services.msc it's down there. You might have to be at SP4. It's the Wireless Zero Configuration that comes with XP but at least it should connect for authentication. I'm pretty sure this will solve your problem.
 
Also make sure that both users AND computers are set to have remote access checked in AD. I remember reading that somewhere for Wireless access to Win2k domain.
 
As you've noticed, the cards don't connect until the wireless net utility loads... Not much you can do about this AFAIK...
Click to expand...

Not always the case. Depends on the card and driver. The company I used to work for would have gone out of business had this been true across the board. Cisco PC and PCI cards work fine when trying to authenticate to AD through it at logon. You can pretty much do any configuration you need to do in the driver. Sort of a BS story that a driver for a card would not allow you to input all data needed to get a client to AP association but it appears that is the problem.

I'm at work, on Windows 2000, and I have the wirless configuration service. start>run>services.msc it's down there. You might have to be at SP4. It's the Wireless Zero Configuration that comes with XP but at least it should connect for authentication. I'm pretty sure this will solve your problem.
Click to expand...

Disabled by default in Win2K. You just need to enable it apparantly. Learned something new today. Thought that was an XP only service, and your right, OS needs to be patched up to SP4
 
I've looked for the wireless zero configuration and I can't find it. The OS is patched up to SP4 and all other updates as well. The closest thing I've got is "Wireless Configuration"...
 
Hm. That one didn't do squat for me so I figured the difference between "wireless configuration" and "wireless zero configuration" he mentioned was significant...

Oh well, at this point I've already logged each one of them on with the one account that they'll need using a patch cable so it's all just educational from here on out...
 
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