Login Hangs When Disconnected from Network

[jdonalds]

I've seen this vary per machine, but what I'm experiencing is the following. I have a sony laptop configured with XP Pro to authenticate to a Windows 2000 AD domain.

When I'm not connected to the network and I try to login to the laptop normally meaning I specify the domain name at login, the laptop hangs on my credentials and takes nearly 2 minutes at times to login.

I would be left to believe that during that time it's trying to authenticate to the domain though it's not physically connected to the network. However, I've seen other XP Pro machines fly right past the login.

Any ideas what might cause that and how I might eliminate the hang in the future. I would just login to the machine name as opposed to the domain but my profile is configured differently.

Thanks,
Jeremy

 

[bcastner]

The delay is likely due to waiting for a DHCP server and an automaticly obtained IP address and not authentication. Is it possible to be assigned a static IP on your Domain?

 

[jdonalds]

It is but doesn't do me much good if I need to be configured for dhcp when I'm traveling. Are you saying if I were to just hard code an IP from our network to the laptop I wouldn't have this problem?

 

[bcastner]

Essentially, yes. You would not have the problem.

Several choices:

. Natively, XP supports a "Docked" and an "Undocked" hardware profile. If you use a physical docking station, set the network adapter to disable in the "Undocked" hardware profile. XP will recognize the difference in state and apply the change automaticly;

. You can define your own Hardware Profile that disables the network adapter. You will get prompted at each start to chose a profile, but this is a minor inconvenience;

. You could before leaving your Domain and travelling, assign as false static IP (hence, disabling DHCP) in your Properties of the Internet Proocol (TCP/IP) settings. No delay if you do this. Set it to 192.168.0.1, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, Gateway 192.168.0.1 Reset to DHCP when you return.

. You could assign an "Alternate" TCP/IP profile. While not as quick to startup as a fixed IP, it is faster than waiting for DHCP:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...l/proddocs/en-us/sag_tcpip_pro_altconfig.mspx

. You can use Device Manger and just "disable" the network adapter when you travel. Enable when you return.

Best wishes,
Bill Castner