Group Policy loading
From: Christopher Hill (minkus_at_ntlworld.com)
Date: 03/17/04
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Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 04:15:32 -0800
I have also experinced this problem with almost exactly
the same setup. Here is a copy of a support incident that
I have just set up with Microsoft. There is a fix you can
put in in the mean time. (NB You might find a copy of this
message on an Internet forum saying that I think it's the
Dell drivers. I posted that yesterday but after research
it seems to be a problem with XP, not the Dell drivers):
My support incident to Microsoft starts here:
I am experiencing a problem with a Dell OptiPlex SX270 and
a Dell TrueMobile 1180 USB 802.11b wireless card,
connecting to a Buffalo WLA-G54 Wireless Access Point. I
have installed the latest wireless rollup (826942) and the
latest Dell and Buffalo firmware and drivers but to no
avail. This is a clean RIS install of Windows XP SP1 with
all the latest hotfixes using the Microsoft Wireless Zero
Configuration service, so there's no dodgy software or
settings. I am also using the SyncForegroundPolicy
('Always wait for the network at computer startup and
logon') option to make Windows XP wait for the network to
start up before attempting to apply Group Policy.
I have also tried using another manufacturer's drivers
(SiteCom's WL-012 driver) by editing the PCIID in the .inf
file to match that of the Dell TrueMobile card. These
SiteCom drivers are a lot more up to date and work fine on
the Dell card for normal network operations but still have
the problem described below. This makes me think that the
problem is not with the drivers but with Windows XP itself.
The problem is that Group Policy objects are not applying
to the system when the system is booted with only the
wireless card connected. The Application Event Log
contains the following error:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1054
Date: 17/03/2004
Time: 11:09:17
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: CON01
Description:
Windows cannot obtain the domain controller name for your
computer network. (The specified domain either does not
exist or could not be contacted. ). Group Policy
processing aborted.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
And the System Event Log contains the following error:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: NETLOGON
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5719
Date: 17/03/2004
Time: 11:09:17
User: N/A
Computer: CON01
Description:
No Domain Controller is available for domain CRGS due to
the following:
There are currently no logon servers available to service
the logon request. .
Make sure that the computer is connected to the network
and try again. If the problem persists, please contact
your domain administrator.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 5e 00 00 c0 ^..À
Once the system has fully booted up, however, any user is
able to log on to the network and use the network
resources without problems.
If I boot up with the wired connection the GPO *does*
apply properly and everything works as it should.
It seems that Windows XP does not wait long enough for the
wireless card to initialize, negotiate a speed and set up
WEP before attempting to apply Group Policy. But the
wireless card setup does finish in time for the Ctrl-Alt-
Del logon screen so users are still able to log on without
problems. The wired connection does not have this problem
because it does not take so long to start up.
There is one 'easy' method of fixing the problem, but it
has a side effect. If I follow the instructions at MSKB
article 239924 to enable the DisableDHCPMediaSense key
it'll fix the problem but the side effect is that the
computer takes a *long* time on the 'Preparing network
connections' section of starting up Windows XP, which is
not acceptable. My theory is that this doesn't fix the
problem but just makes the computer wait so long to
prepare the network connections that the wireless card is
able to fully initialize before Group Policy starts.
I think it is to do with XP itself rather than the Dell
drivers. I had this problem when we first started using
Buffalo WLA-CB-G54 PCMCIA wireless cards in our laptops
here, but the problem seems to have largely cured itself.
I did update the Buffalo drivers, which seems to have
helped, but sometimes the problem still occurs even on the
Buffalo cards. However it is intermittent, whereas the
Dell cards do it 99% of the time. Maybe the newer Buffalo
drivers are faster than the older Buffalo drivers and the
Dell drivers at connecting to the wireless network, so
they do not show this problem?
The problem may also manifest itself when the computer has
bad wireless coverage - as when the coverage is poor XP
doesn't wait long enough for the card to negotiate down to
the lower speed so that packets can get through.
It may also have something to do with the fact that I use
a Buffalo WLA-G54 802.11g wireless access point and the
TrueMobile 1180 USB is an 802.11b card. Maybe it takes
that little bit longer to negotiate the lower speed? In
any case, either the TrueMobile drivers or XP itself
shouldn't be giving the 'all clear' to start the GPO
application until the network negotiation is successful.
It may also be related to how 'loaded up' the computer is
(a race condition). Most of the laptops that have Buffalo
cards also have Visual Studio .NET 2003 installed and a
whole load of other stuff: they never have this problem.
Other laptops with Buffalo cards that don't have so much
software installed sometimes have this problem. The Dell
computers with the TrueMobile 1180 have similar amounts
of 'stuff' as these laptops but always have the problem.
Of course, all of the computers have different processor
speeds. This makes me think it might be a combination of
the USB drivers taking longer to start up properly and an
XP race condition.
One other interesting registry key that I would *expect*
to fix the problem is the one documented in these MSKB
articles:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-
us;202840
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-
us;163204
The ExpectedDialupDelay key is supposed to make Windows
wait longer before trying to contact the domain
controller, which is exactly what we need it to do.
However, this key seems to have no effect on the Group
Policy applicator for Windows XP, and in fact XP isn't
listed under the 'The information in this article applies
to' section of the articles. Has the key been removed or
moved under XP, or does it simply not apply to the Group
Policy applicator at startup time?
The best fix would be to put a wait condition so that the
computer checks that all wireless cards (and indeed other
network cards) and the Wireless Zero Configuration Service
(or other client software) have had a chance to fully
initialize before Group Policy starts. Alternatively, the
Group Policy applicator could be configured to use the
ExpectedDialupDelay registry entry or another, new
registry entry, to wait for a certain number of seconds
before attempting to connect to the network. If a new
registry key is created, it would be extremely helpful if
it was possible to set this key inside Group Policy just
as you can with ExpectedDialupDelay, but I do not see why
ExpectedDialupDelay could not be used for both purposes.
Thank you very much for your attention. Please contact me
if you are unsure about any of the above.
>-----Original Message-----
>Hello everyone,
>
>Here is the problem that I am having. I have a system
>that I am working on now that is a Dell OptiPlex SX270
>computer running Windows XP Pro. The system has a built
>in Intel Gig NIC, I have also connected a Dell TrueMobile
>1180 USB Wireless Network Adapter which connects via
>USB. The issue that I have is that GPO's assigned to the
>computer are not loading if the system is using the
>wireless adapter only. If the system is connected via
>the Ethernet cable then the computer GPO's process. We
>currently install and update our antivirus software using
>the Software Installation option on the computer
>configuration section to assign the software to the
>computers in the domain.
>
>If the computer only has the USB NIC and no wired network
>connecter the following errors are in the event log.
>
>System
>Netlogon Event ID: 5719
>No Domain Controller is available for domain due to the
>following:
>There are currently no logon servers available to service
>the logon request...
>
>Application
>Userenv Event ID: 1054
>Windows cannot obtain the domain controller name for your
>computer network. (The specified domain either does not
>exist or could not be contacted.) Group Policy
>processing aborted.
>
>If the system has the wired Ethernet connection then I do
>not get these error messages in the event log during
>startup and the GPO's process and the software installs.
>I have had no problems with logging into the domain with
>a domain user account with the computer on wireless only.
>
>Is there a problem with using USB NIC's and computer
>GPO's? Is the USB port and USB network adapter not
>getting initialized in time for the GPO's get loaded?
>I don't know what the timeline is for drives to get
>loaded and Active Directory processing.
>
>So far I have checked another system that we have just
>like this one and it is having the same problems.
>However it appears that we have not had this problem with
>desktops using PIC wireless NIC's and laptops that use
>mini PCI or PCMICA wireless NIC's.
>
>Thanks for anyone's help.
>Brent
>
>.
>
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