Bug in NET USER /times or is it me?

[Patrick Philippot]

Hi,

Let's assume the following command

net user john /times:F,10am-12pm

or

net user john /times:F,10:00-24:00

The command "net user john" displays the correct settings. But if John tries
to connect between 10am and 12pm, the login is rejected. If I change the
settings as follows

net user john /times:F,10am-11pm

or

net user john /times:F,10:00-23:00

there's no problem.

Is this a known bug or did I miss some syntax subtlety? How do I set
midnight as the end of the time slot?

 

[Patrick Philippot]

Hi,

It seems it's an XP specific bug. We have made some progress analyzing this
bug with another fellow MVP (Gilles Laurent). Actually, there are two
problems.

If I use the am-pm notation and if the end time is midnight as in

net user john /times:S,10am-12pm

the command "net user john" will display the expected settings but the logon
hours data (retrieved with the NetUserGetInfo API) is obviously wrong (first
bug):

\> netusertimes -get -user john
0 6 12 18 24
| . . . . . | . . . . . | . . . . . | . . . . . |
D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Sunday
L D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Monday
M D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Tuesday
M D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Wednesday
J D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Thursday
V D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Friday
S D D D D D D D D D D A A D D D D D D D D D D D D Saturday

A : Allowed D : Disallowed

netusertimes being a small program written by Gilles and using the
NetUserGetInfo API..

Now, if I enter the following command:

net user john /times:S,10:00-24:00 (which is actually the same command)

the command "net user john" will display wrong settings (second bug)
claiming that John is allowed to logon from Saturday (S is for
samedi-saturday in french) 10:00am to Sunday 12:am. However, the actual
settings retrieved with netusertimes are correct and the logon hours work as
expected:

\> netusertimes -get -user john
0 6 12 18 24
| . . . . . | . . . . . | . . . . . | . . . . . |
D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Sunday
L D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Monday
M D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Tuesday
M D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Wednesday
J D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Thursday
V D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Friday
S D D D D D D D D D D A A A A A A A A A A A A A A Saturday

A : Allowed D : Disallowed

We observe the same behavior with the english version of XP.

Conclusion: if the end of a time slot is midnight, do not use the am-pm
notation. Using the hh:mm notation will cause net user <username> to display
wrong settings but the actual settings will be correct and work as expected.

Cheers.

 

[Patrick Philippot]

Hi,

Conclusion: if the end of a time slot is midnight, do not use the am-pm
notation. Using the hh:mm notation will cause net user <username> to display
wrong settings but the actual settings will be correct and work as expected.

Well, actually, there's no bug. It's a problem with the confusing am-pm
notation that is not interpreted here as in the US. 12pm doesn't mean
midnight but noon while 12am means midnight. Here in France, we tend to
consider that 12am is noon and 12pm midnight. So both the settings and the
display of the settings when using net user <username> are actually correct
and the command works as expected. Just, the notation is misleading...