Network ID grayed out, cannot change domain/workgroup??

[shawn]

HELP!

Here is the issue we have had 5 machines now that after
users took them home and tried to get them to work on
their home wirless network the network properties are
toast. We get a typical call, the machine is no longer on
the domain, just needs to be re-added. Problem is when we
try to re-add the machine to the domain the network id
button is greyed out and and when you go into properties
you can change the name of the machine but you cannot
change between domain or workgroup or specify a name for
the domain or workgroup. The workgroup does show a name
of "." which gives an event id 3932 ". is not a valid
domain or workgroup name" This is all while logged in as
local admin. Also I noticed that the the workstation
service will not start which has many subsequent
dependencies fail. (Note: When workstation service is
stopped, all network id properties should be greyed out
including the properties button but I can click on this
but can only change the workstation name at that time)
When you try to start the workstation service it comes
back with "error 123: the filename, directory, or volume
label syntax is incorrect." I found one kb article
relative to this but it did not fix the problem, I even
imported a known working lanmanworkstation key. I have
tried completely removing everything involving networking
and every single non-standard program on the machine. The
only thing I find online as to why the properties would be
grayed out is because client for microsoft networks is not
installed, but I have removed and reinstalled it numerous
times. I look in the registry and I cant find anything
related to the configuration of the client for ms networks
nor any settings for workgroup or domain. (I even set
another pc to a workgroup and set an odd name and searched
the registry for it without avail) There appears to be no
policy restricting access. So I guess I am either looking
for a magical answer or at minimum can some one tell me
where I can find all the stored network settings for
msclient? Also in nt4.0 I could go and set extended
permissions on user accounts as to what they could or
could not do on a granular level such as logging on as a
system account, interacting, etc, is there anything like
this in win2k? I am thinking that the wireless software
had an option to let it manage the network settings for
ease of switching between network profiles (wireless
points and wired connections) and then the software jacked
up while it still had a hook in the network properties,
maybe removing the administrator group from being able to
make the neccessary modifications. I dont know, its just
a guess, any and all help would be greatly appreciated!!!

thx

-Shawn

 

[Jetro]

Did you delete the wireless drivers and adapters, winsocks, and reinstal all
the network components?

 

[Guest]

absolutely, everything wireless has been removed, I
removed tcpip and also deleted the bindings and winsocks
in the registry????


-shawn

 

[Jetro]

Check local Admin rights to 'Log on as a service': run gpedit.msc and drill
down to Computer Configuration/Windows Settings/Security Settings/Local
Policies/User Rights Assignment. Open Workstation service Properties/Log On
tab using 'services.msc' and play with the account.
Run 'sfc /scannow' but be ready to reimage or perform in-place upgrade.
Everyone knows how a smart and clever user with the full Admin rights can
screw up anything in the blink of an eye.

 

[Shawn]

Okay it ended up being the software for the wireless
card. There were options to let the wireless profile
manager handle the ip settings and handle the domain
settings. Even though the checks were taken out of those
boxes the problem persisted and if you uninstalled the
wireless management software it never let go of its hook
on the network settings. Resolve was to if neccessary
reinstall wireless software, delete current wireless
profile and then select adhoc networking, it clears the
block on the network settings allowing you to manipulate
as normal. Unless you are statically assigning IP's there
should be no need to have the wireless card software
control the ip and domain settings and in general I guess
domain settings should not be so easily manipulated by the
end user, lesson learned. Thanks for the GP tips.

Hopefully this will help a person or two.

-Shawn