need usb NIC driver to load before logging on to domain

[auxvivrespos]

I'm currently administering a touchscreen workstation running win2k,
that operates without a keyboard and operates on a win2k-based
domain. Since there is no keyboard, the workstation is configured to
log on to the network domain automatically.

This particular workstation is using a usb-based network interface
card. The network adapter is a Linksys USB200M. Because this adapter
is usb-based its drivers seem to either take longer to load or are
loaded later in the bootup process. This creates a problem whereby
the Winlogon process attempts to automatically log on to the domain
controller, and retrieve its roaming user profile BEFORE the network
adapter has finished loading. Consequently, windows reports that it
cannot retrieve the roaming user profile from the network share and
reverts to a locally cached copy.

I would like to ensure that the network adapter's drivers have
finished loading before WinLogon initiates the logon process. I have
come across two links which seem to suggest this is possible:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];193888

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];115486

The first link in particular describes what I think is the the best
solution: Making the WinLogon service dependent on the network
adapter's device driver. In this case the logon would begin only
after the device driver has loaded.

I would like to try to create such a dependency by modifying the
appropriate registry keys but I need to know what system service is in
charge of WinLogon? I have found a "Netlogon" service but nothing
which is explicitly labelled as "WinLogon"

 

[Dave Patrick]

Here's maybe some insight.

http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2005/07/24/running-windows-with-no-services.aspx

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[John John]

I think that the problem lies not with the NIC card itself but in the
manner in which the USB stack and drivers are initialized and loaded
when Windows boots. The card cannot communicate with the nerwork until
the USB subsystem is completely loaded. You can try but it might be
rather difficult to modify the load order of the USB subsystem, a way
easier remedy would be to use a PCI NIC (if the workstation has free PCI
slots).

John

 

[auxvivrespos]

Unfortunately for this particular workstation, a PCI NIC is not an
option. I agree that the problem is related to the order in which
drivers are loaded and in which services are started.

I have identified a "Netlogon" key relating to the service of the same
name, in the registry under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\
Netlogon is configured to depend on the LanmanWorkstation which is
described as "Providing network connections and communications." I'm
only guessing, but this sounds like the service I need to delay so I
made LanmanWorkstation depend upon the USB200M driver by following the
method described at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/193888 This did
not seem to work and, looking at the bootlog, all the drivers seem to
load as they did before the change was made. I'm not sure if there's
another service upon which I should have made the dependency.

 

[auxvivrespos]

Just an update: I may have found a workable solution to my problem.
I found a discussion of a similar issue at
http://www.webservertalk.com/archive48-2004-11-503918.html As that
thread suggests, I disabled DHCP on this particular workstation,
assigned a static IP address and I now have no problems retrieving a
roaming user profile or mapping network drives. Having to switch to a
static IP address is hardly an ideal, nor an intuitive solution. I
still think there's a better way to have the computer wait for the NIC
drivers to load before attempting to log onto the network, but at this
point I'll take what I can get.