"Username cannot be found" error with Win9x & AD

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill Winker
  • Start date Start date
B

Bill Winker

On the Win9x machines that log into our domain, certain
users are getting the error "Username can not be found".
No matter what I have tried I can't get the user logged
in. I found newsgroup postings dating back to 1998 from
other users with the same issue. None of the postings
had a fix.

It seems to be just the users that were added after the
switch to AD. We upgraded our NT domain to AD about 6
months ago. Here are the things I have tried:
Installing the AD client for Win9x.
Re-creating the user.
Moving the user out of an OU and into the Users folder in
AD.
Creating a computer account for the machine in the
Computers folder in AD.
Giving the machine a static IP address (this helps some
users log in but not others. Changing duplex mode of the
NIC.

I originally thought our Winframe server (in a separate
domain) was causing the error. I powered off the Winframe
server and removed all traces of the 1C entry in the Wins
table for the WinFrame server. That did not help.
 
Try removing the User account and computer account from the domain. Then
recreate the account and re-join the domain.
 
Bill,

I have seen something similar to this a couple of times ( with WIN98 and
WIN98SE ) and in every instance installing - if not present - the DSClient
( or completely uninstalling, rebooting and then installing again if
present ) worked. I would also make sure that the WIN9x clients have an
entry for the WINS server(s)....

I am not sure how you can create a computer account for a WIN9x machine.
They do not have one! Not in WINNT, not in WIN2000 and not in WIN2003.

What happens if the users who are using the WIN9x systems log on with a
WIN2000 or WINXP system? What happens if the users who are not having a
problem ( meaning, logging on to a WIN2000 or WINXP system ) try to log on
to a WIN9x system?

HTH,

Cary
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I have tried evry possible
combination of uninstalling and reinstalling the DSClient
I could think of. I also tried installing the DSClient in
Safe Mode to no avail. One thing I forgot to mention is
that we are running a Novell 5.0 Network alongside our
Win2K AD. The clients have the Intranetware client in
addition to the MS client.

The Win9x clients are getting their IP addressing data
from a Win2K DHCP server. In this data are entries for 2
DNS servers (Win2K Servers), and 2 Wins servers (1 Win2K
Server, 1 WinNT 4.0 Server). Everything looks OK in the
Wins database as far as domain & DC entries.

I knew adding the computer account for a Win9x machine was
a long shot since Win9x doesn't have a SID.

If a user of a Win2K computer logs in at a Win9x computer,
some users get logged in, some don't. It seems that the
users that were created B4 AD (we upgraded our NT4.0
domain) can log in anywhere. The users created after the
AD creation cannot log in to the Win9x computers. Any user
can log in at a WinNT/2K/XP computer, so it is strictly an
issue with the Win9x computers. Obviously the long term
term fix is to replace our Win9x machines w/Win2K. Thanks
for your help.
 
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