Hello,
I am using Windows Xp pro SP2 as a client to connect to Windows Server 2003
domain. i also have windows 98 machines as clients in same domain.
While i have setup domain on win 98 machines so every time while logging
they ask for domain id and pass, i haven't done so on xp machines because
they were taking too long to log on and being used by multiple users it
created too many users.
Now what i have done is to put all the computers on same work group (so as
to communicate in lan), and winxp machines have shortcut to server's hard
disk, so when ever i try to access files on the domain server it asks for the
password then and it gives me access. Do you have a better way to do this?
ALSO i have security policy which asks the domain users to change password
every 15 days. while win 98 users get a dialog that password is expired and
gives a option to change it, Winxp users don't get any notification and no
option to change password. how do i do this in winxp and change password?
Please Help.

Raghav <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Hello,
> I am using Windows Xp pro SP2 as a client to connect to Windows
> Server 2003 domain. i also have windows 98 machines as clients in
> same domain.

You should start planning to replace those computers with ones running a
currently supported, and suitable, workstation OS - it's 2007 now, and Win9x
was never a good corporate workstation platform. Stick with NT-based OSes.

> While i have setup domain on win 98 machines so every time while
> logging they ask for domain id and pass, i haven't done so on xp
> machines because they were taking too long to log on and being used
> by multiple users it created too many users.

Not sure what you mean by "created too many users...." you need as many user
accounts as you have users, unless you want them all to share one domain
account, which doesn't make a lot of sense.

Join your XP/2k/Vista workstations to the domain and show the users how to
log in with their own accounts - that's the best way to do this.You're kinda
defeating the whole point of AD by configuring it as you are doing.

> Now what i have done is to put all the computers on same work group
> (so as to communicate in lan),

Don't use a workgroup when you have AD. I realize that for the Win9x
computers you have no choice, but for them, make the workgroup name match
the domain name, and make the network /ldomain login the primary one. Sounds
like you've done that already.

> and winxp machines have shortcut to
> server's hard disk, so when ever i try to access files on the domain
> server it asks for the password then and it gives me access.

If the user logs into the domain on the XP workstation, they will not be
prompted for credentials - they can access whatever their domainaccount has
permissions to access on the server(s).
If they're logging into a local account, create an AD user with the same
name & password and they won't be prompted. But this is unwise from pretty
much every viewpoint I can think of.


> Do you
> have a better way to do this?

Yep - see above.

> ALSO i have security policy which asks
> the domain users to change password every 15 days. while win 98 users
> get a dialog that password is expired and gives a option to change
> it, Winxp users don't get any notification and no option to change
> password. how do i do this in winxp and change password? Please Help.

Well, with the setup you've got now, your WinXP users aren't logging into
the domain, so there's no way they will ever be prompted. Once they are
logging into the domain as themselves, they will be prompted.

BTW, a 15-day password expiration pretty much guarantees annoyed end users,
and probably a lot of "sticky note" password reminders on monitors. 60 days
would probably be the minimum I'd recommend.

"Raghav" wrote:
>i haven't done so on xp machines because
> they were taking too long to log on and being used by multiple users it
> created too many users.

If you want any domain-user to be able to logon to any computer, without
this creating dozens of userprofiles around the network, then MyLogon is
specifically designed to achieve this.

-------------------------------
An alternative Network-Logon for Windows: http://mylogon.net

Ian <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> "Raghav" wrote:
>> i haven't done so on xp machines because
>> they were taking too long to log on and being used by multiple users
>> it created too many users.
>
> If you want any domain-user to be able to logon to any computer,
> without this creating dozens of userprofiles around the network, then
> MyLogon is specifically designed to achieve this.
>
> -------------------------------
> An alternative Network-Logon for Windows: http://mylogon.net

I don't think your solution is a reasonable one in an AD environment, but
I'm curious - what affiliation do you have with the company who makes
mylogon.net? You post this all the time.