Intermittent terminal service session connectivity problem?!

[dude]

We have this strange problem with a guy's Win2k laptop trying to connect to
a Windows 2000 SP4 terminal services session. Sometimes it would not
connect, and after a few trys, it would work?! I don't think we are running
out of licenses since he is the only one complaining. There are no
permission issues I can think of that's causing this, since once he
connects, he gets in. I have run through the steps for deleting RDP client
license on his laptop, however, it is still happenning. Can someone shed
some light on this?

thanks

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

What error message does he get when it doesn't work?
Is there anything in the EventLog?
Can he ping the server when he can't connect?
Does this also happen when he is connected to the same LAN as the
server and/or the other clients?

 

[dude]

The user "claims" he gets a credential error, however, we check and the
account is not locked out. No specific errors in the event log on the
server side. On the client side, I currently don't have access to it
because he is coming from a different domain which I don't have access to.
He can ping the server. This does not happen on any other machine anywhere
other than on his own laptop. I pulled up the Terminal Services Licensing
Manager and was surprised to see his machine pulled 6 licenses off the
licensing server! Everytime it tries to connect, it pulls a license and
somehow fails. Eventually it goes through for some reason. He is on Win2k
SP3 by the way. I have asked him to install SP4 and see if the situation
improves.

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

Have the user write done the *exact* text of the error message he
receives.

 

[dude]

Ok, the exact message is:

The system could not log you on. Make sure your User name and domain are
correct, then type your password again. Letters in passwords must be typed
using the correct case. Make sure that Caps Lock is not accidentally on.

The strange thing is, he types in the correct username and password
everytime. This happens only at first few attempts, it then goes through
after a few trys. On that terminal server's security log. I receive Event
529 and failure reason is "Unknown user name or bad password." I've already
tried deleting the license on the user's local machine.. same thing still
happens. User's laptop has Win2k SP4 on it. I found MS article, Q290706,
however he doesn't have automatic logon with long password. So I'm sort of
at loss right now

help please!
thanks

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

Have you checked the keyboard?
Most common cause for intermittent login faulures, when you are
convinced that the user types it in correctly.

 

[dude]

The keyboard has been checked. User types it in correctly each time.

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

I'm at a loss here. Re-reading the thread, the only thing that
might be significant is your earlier statement:

On the client side, I
currently don't have access to it because he is coming from
a different domain which I don't have access to.

Does this mean that his laptop belongs to a different domain, and
he uses a trust relationship between his domain and your domain to
logon? Could there be a problem with the trust and/or replication?

And does it only happen with this user account on this laptop? Or
do you have the same problem with another user account on the same
laptop? If so, and it is machine-specific, then I would try to
take it out of the domain, delete the machine account and then
rejoin the domain again.

 

[dude]

Only happens on this specific machine! There are numerous other machines in
that same office joined into their own wacko domain and still able to logon
with no problems. There are no trusts between the two domains, and there
needn't be one. Users are using terminal services /RDP client software to
login remotely via terminal services sessions. My understanding is that as
long as the machine acquires a license, and user has a domain account where
that terminal server sits, then they can login and get on with no issues. I
seriously am ready to blow away that user's laptop.

We already did:
- deleted MSLicensing reg key on client machine, reboot, try to login.. same
thing
- applied SP4 on the Win2k install on his laptop
- tried the newest version of RDP client
- reset his domain password
- checked terminal services property under his domain user name
- checked that he has terminal services permission to logon
- checked keyboard caps lock status
- checked if he is typing in wrong password -> definitely NOT!

access magically goes through after a few trys every morning.

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

OK, I understand. And yes, since you have tried everything else, I
would at this point also do a fresh re-install of the laptop.
Always a bit unsatisfying not to know the exact cause of the
problem, but I guess solving it is the main goal...

 

[dude]

Thanks for your help nonetheless!

Only happens on this specific machine! There are numerous other machines in
that same office joined into their own wacko domain and still able to logon
with no problems. There are no trusts between the two domains, and there
needn't be one. Users are using terminal services /RDP client software to
login remotely via terminal services sessions. My understanding is that as
long as the machine acquires a license, and user has a domain account where
that terminal server sits, then they can login and get on with no issues. I
seriously am ready to blow away that user's laptop.

We already did:
- deleted MSLicensing reg key on client machine, reboot, try to login.. same
thing
- applied SP4 on the Win2k install on his laptop
- tried the newest version of RDP client
- reset his domain password
- checked terminal services property under his domain user name
- checked that he has terminal services permission to logon
- checked keyboard caps lock status
- checked if he is typing in wrong password -> definitely NOT!

access magically goes through after a few trys every morning.