Using UNC path through Start->Run causes continuous authentication

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Hi all - I have a very odd problem on a Windwos XP SP2 computer. I am
not sure when the problem started happening, I only noticed it when i
joined the computer to a new domain, it may have gone unnnoticed
beforehand as this is not my computer.

Basically, when I try and access any remote computer by clicking on
start then run and typing in \\computername or \\ip_address all that
happens is the start bar and all open windows flicker slightly and also
when the start menu is clicked it disappears again immediatly, also
windows reset to their start position when trying to be dragged. It
basically seems like explorer is getting in some sort of loop.

I noticed that once this process has begun (it never stops) network
traffic is constant, so I used wireshark to determine what was going on
'on the wire' - I saw that two conections get opened to NBSS (139), the
first one tries the SMBSERV service name and gets a name error, the
second then tries SMBSERVER and gets a name OK, the second connection
then tries authenticating as the locally logged on user and gets an
authentication error (as expected, as the local account does not exist
on the remote conputer). At this point I would expect explorer to
prompt me for a username and pasword, however it does not and just
keeps trying and trying, each time opening two new connections, the
first repeats the rpevious process and the second is issued an RST
before it gets to do anything.

So basically explorer seems to sit there autheticating over and over
and does not stop. The odd thing is that if I start an explorer window
and type the exact same UNC path in the address abr I get asked for my
credentials, I supply them and all is well, if I then put the same UNC
path in the start->run menu all is well also, yet if I try a new UNC
apth in start-> run the same problem occurs.

Anyone got any ideas? It doesn't seem to be the underlying SMB or NTLM
that is the problem.

As a last note - most of the test was done after I disjoined the
compyuter the domain thinking that the domain may be causing some
issue, however the same symptoms were exhibited both when joined to the
domain and when disjoined, the only difference was that when joined to
the domain the user account would become locked out as it attmpted
authentication too many times.

thankyou

.



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