Slow Logon with Windows XP

[ErikD]

I am in the process of adding a domain server to my home network. The server is running Windows 2003 Server, and the lients are running Windows XP Pro and Windows 2000 Pro. My problem is that it takes much much longer for my account to get logged in on the XP box when compared with logging into the same account on a 2000 box. This is especially strange to me as the XP Pro box is a P4 1.7GHz, 512MB RAM and the 2000 is an old PII laptop with 128 MB RAM and a 400MHz processor.

Any ideas what might be going on here?

Thanks,
Erik

[David]

Odd.. I would perhaps examine what logon scripts are running, check the settings and what programs are due to start on logon.

I can't say I'm expert on this sort of thing, the above is really all I can offer in the way of help :(.

[snafumaster]

First question would be; does the xp machine log in locally at normal speeds or is it only when you are trying to log into the domain.

And to elaborate upon what David was saying; a few places to check would be to check the registry
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run
&
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Run

Anything in those keys will start up when windows starts.

Also check:
C:\Documents and Settings\<user-name>\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
&
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
anything in those will start with windows as well.

[ErikD]

The logon is quick when logging into the local machine, it is only when I try logging into the domain that the problems (slowdown) occurs.

The only things that are going on as I enter the domain are mounting a network drive, and starting AVG and Sygate Firewall. I do all of the same things when I load the local profile too. I realize it might take a little longer, but to do the exact same operations it is taking much much longer with the domain.

[thegreek]

try clearing the prefetch folder

[El<(')>Maxi]

Try un-joining and then re-joining the domain. Another idea is setting static IP's especially due to your small network size. I don't think that's the problem but it's worth a shot. You can also try disabling the XP firewall as a test if it's enabled now.

[ErikD]

I tried all of the above and still no dice. It is still much slower to logon using the domain and a roaming profile. And it isn't just that profile either. No matter what user account I try logging into it is slow as heck when going through the domain. I mean like it is takin mroe than a minute to get from entering username and password to desktop. When logging in locally it takes maybe ten seconds. At first I thought it might have been because it was synchronizing with the network drive, but even after disabling that it is still way to slow.

Any other ideas of what it might be? As a last resort I could always format and do a fresh install of Windows on this PC, but would rather not.

[El<(')>Maxi]

Try enabling Netbios over TCP/IP on the problem machine. You can also run a perfmon remotely against the machine prior to a user login. This should indicate which processes are stalling the login.

[ErikD]

I just had a thought. Is it possible that the slowdown on network logon is due to network slowdowns? At the moment I am using an older Cisco 1900 switch, only capable of 10Mbps speeds. Just how much information is being transfered between the server and client during the logon process? Is it possible that Windows XP is just taking longer because it just needs to transfer more data to setup my profile? I am using a roaming profile stored on the server.

I guess I will find out soon enough as I have a full 100Mbps switch on order anyway and am just waiting for it to get to me.

[ErikD]

Thanks for all the help guys, but I got this problem all figured out. I am building up from an existing peer network as mentioned. I am using Smoothwall as a router/firewall/DHCP server. I didn't realize that I needed to change the settings in Smoothwall to point to the Windows 2003 Server for DNS, and then have the Windows server deal with forwarding back to the Smoothwall box.

Now that it is all setup logging in and out is pretty much the same speed locally or network.

[snafumaster]

Good job in figuring it out. That extra info may have been helpful to add(for us to assist). Just an FYI. :thup: