Offline Files: Prompt for username/password?

[Wayne Ziemer]

Hi All,

I've been struggling with a very strange issue here lately. I support a few
hundred PC's which are configured with folder redirection for my docs,
favorites and desktop items. I then use offline files to allow laptop uses to
sync these directories so that they have access to them while they are at
home.

This has worked perfectly fine since its introduction nearly 2 years ago. As
of Tuesday of this week, I've had almost every one of my users get prompted
for a password after logging in, but ONLY when they are outside of my office.
This dialogue box is prompting them for a password to my file server, lets
call it fileserver1.contoso.com. No combination of their current
username/password provides successful authentication as it complains that no
DC is currently available.

In doing a bit of troubleshooting on their machine, here is what i've found:
1.) NO changes have been made recently to any of our configs/network.
2.) No entries in the hosts file accept for 127.0.0.1 for localhost
3.) I'm able to ping anything and it resolves to 127.0.0.1 as long as I
don't specify a domain (ex. .com). Example: ping fhfhdfyduaifydufayduia
resolves to 127.0.0.1.
4.) All Virus defs are up to date (mcAfee 8.5i Patch 8), also uninstalled
mcafee to see if that was causing the issue.
5.) I tried adding the IP to my file server to the hosts file in order to
see if that could resolve my issue (hoping that it would find the server is
offline and then stay offline) and it was still able to resolve! tracert
showed the following:

view plainprint?

1. Tracing route to 10.2.11.2 over a maximum of 30 hops
2. 1 1 ms 2 ms 1 ms WRT54GSv5 [192.168.1.1]
3. 2 * * * Request timed out.
4. 3 8 ms 10 ms 18 ms 68.85.131.157
5. 4 9 ms 8 ms 8 ms
po-10-ur08.mtprospect.il.chicago.comcast.net [68.87.231.70]
6. 5 11 ms 10 ms 11 ms
be-50-ar01.area4.il.chicago.comcast.net [68.87.230.53]
7. 6 14 ms 12 ms 11 ms
te-4-1-cr01.chicago.il.cbone.comcast.net [68.86.72.33]
8. 7 27 ms 27 ms 28 ms te-9-1-cr01.omaha.ne.cbone.comcast.net
[68.86.68.30]
9. 8 79 ms 39 ms 37 ms
te-9-1-cr01.denver.co.cbone.comcast.net [68.86.68.42]
10. 9 203 ms 49 ms 48 ms te-9-1-cr01.ogden.ut.cbone.comcast.net
[68.86.68.46]
11. 10 140 ms 65 ms 65 ms
te-9-1-cr01.seattle.wa.cbone.comcast.net [68.86.68.50]
12. 11 211 ms 66 ms 66 ms
te-0-8-0-0-ar01.seattle.wa.seattle.comcast.net [68.86.72.66]
13. 12 119 ms 66 ms 66 ms
te-8-1-ur02.everett.wa.seattle.comcast.net [68.86.96.198]
14. 13 150 ms 84 ms 85 ms
te-9-3-ur01.everett.wa.seattle.comcast.net [68.86.96.77]
15. 14 187 ms 84 ms 87 ms 69.241.105.214
16. 15 85 ms 86 ms 87 ms 69.241.105.242
17. 16 88 ms 85 ms 86 ms 10.177.253.1
18. 17 87 ms 85 ms 87 ms 10.2.47.201
19. 18 89 ms 89 ms 89 ms 10.2.63.8
20. 19 91 ms 89 ms 88 ms 10.2.11.2
21. Trace complete.
22.

Tracing route to 10.2.11.2 over a maximum of 30 hops 1 1 ms 2 ms 1 ms
WRT54GSv5 [192.168.1.1] 2 * * * Request timed out. 3 8 ms 10 ms 18 ms
68.85.131.157 4 9 ms 8 ms 8 ms po-10-ur08.mtprospect.il.chicago.comcast.net
[68.87.231.70] 5 11 ms 10 ms 11 ms be-50-ar01.area4.il.chicago.comcast.net
[68.87.230.53] 6 14 ms 12 ms 11 ms te-4-1-cr01.chicago.il.cbone.comcast.net
[68.86.72.33] 7 27 ms 27 ms 28 ms te-9-1-cr01.omaha.ne.cbone.comcast.net
[68.86.68.30] 8 79 ms 39 ms 37 ms te-9-1-cr01.denver.co.cbone.comcast.net
[68.86.68.42] 9 203 ms 49 ms 48 ms te-9-1-cr01.ogden.ut.cbone.comcast.net
[68.86.68.46] 10 140 ms 65 ms 65 ms te-9-1-cr01.seattle.wa.cbone.comcast.net
[68.86.68.50] 11 211 ms 66 ms 66 ms
te-0-8-0-0-ar01.seattle.wa.seattle.comcast.net [68.86.72.66] 12 119 ms 66 ms
66 ms te-8-1-ur02.everett.wa.seattle.comcast.net [68.86.96.198] 13 150 ms 84
ms 85 ms te-9-3-ur01.everett.wa.seattle.comcast.net [68.86.96.77] 14 187 ms
84 ms 87 ms 69.241.105.214 15 85 ms 86 ms 87 ms 69.241.105.242 16 88 ms 85 ms
86 ms 10.177.253.1 17 87 ms 85 ms 87 ms 10.2.47.201 18 89 ms 89 ms 89 ms
10.2.63.8 19 91 ms 89 ms 88 ms 10.2.11.2 Trace complete. It's worth noting
that there is no VPN or any kind of connection back to our office when
working remotely. I'm at a complete and total loss on this one, any ideas are
appreciated. Thanks!

 

[John Wunderlich]

=?Utf-8?B?V2F5bmUgWmllbWVy?= <Wayne
(e-mail address removed)> wrote in

In doing a bit of troubleshooting on their machine, here is what
i've found:
[snip]
5.) I tried adding the IP to my file server to the hosts file in
order to see if that could resolve my issue (hoping that it would
find the server is offline and then stay offline) and it was still
able to resolve! tracert showed the following:

1. Tracing route to 10.2.11.2 over a maximum of 30 hops

It would appear that you placed an entry in your hosts table for your
file server that equates to a 10.x.x.x number. You must realize that
10.x.x.x numbers are Private Network numbers and are not routable on
the internet at large...
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_network>
Apparently your ISP uses this address for something else (which is
perfectly acceptable). If you must add an entry in the hosts table,
you should make it a routable number or at least a private number that
your ISP is not using... (maybe try 192.168.12.12)).

3.) I'm able to ping anything and it resolves to 127.0.0.1 as long
as I don't specify a domain (ex. .com). Example:
ping fhfhdfyduaifydufayduia resolves to 127.0.0.1.

If you specify a non-Fully Qualified Domain Name (ie. one without a
'.' in it) then suffixes are automatically appended before the attempt
at a DNS lookup. Most computers default to the domain name provided by
DHCP by the ISP, but it can be specified manually under the DNS tab in
the TCP/IP properties of your computer NIC. So obviously the behavior
here can depend somewhat on what your ISP decides to do with it and/or
how you've configured it.

HTH,
John