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Windows 98 Clients

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by edlockett

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We have a network with one SBS2003 server. AD running in native mode. 15 XP clients and 10 98 clients. All machines are fully updated, have antivirus and are totally clean. Everything was working fine on the old NT4 domain until we upgraded to SBS2003 about 2 months ago.

The problem ocurrs with the 98 clients and is as follows.
Some of the boxes are used as print servers. They also have file shares for administrative access. When the machines are first started up the shares are not accessible. Attempting to browse the computer concerned from another workstation (by typing \\[COMPUTERNAME]) results in a password prompt being displayed. This is not expected since the machines are configured for user-level access control. No combination of username/password at this prompt is successful. It is necessary to log a user on to the local machine to gain access to the shares from the network.
Secondly, if a machine is used for a bit and then logged out, it is then not possible to log in again (with ANY user account) until the machine is restarted. The user is informed that their password is incorrect. Repeated attempts to log in result in their account in question becoming locked out.
Additionally at random intervals, whilst a user is logged in and is working with open files on network shares, all network access will suddenly be denied. It is necessary to restart the machine (sometimes more than once) in order to be able to log in again. This symptom appears several times a day on one of the boxes but less frequently on others.

Just to avoid confusion, the issues described occur on machines running WINDOWS 98 ; therefore there are no machine accounts for them in active directory and the machines are not registered in DNS.

I would be eternally grateful for any advice which could help solve this issue.
I would also like to hear comments from ANYBODY who has experienced similar symptoms OR has SBS2003 and win98 clients running WITHOUT problems.
Many Thanks

7 replies

by sgt_shultz

what do you think of this?
How to enable Windows 98/ME/NT clients to logon to Windows 2003 based Domains
Author: Yuval Sinay MVP
Article ID : 555038
Last Review : August 16, 2004
Revision : 1.0
SYMPTOMS
Most companies have legacy operating system like - Windows 98, that give them backward compatibility for legacy applications.The default settings of Windows 2003 domains prohibit the logon of these clients, to overcome this limitation, a change of behavior is needed.
CAUSE
By default, security settings on domain controllers running Windows Server 2003 are configured to help prevent domain controller communications from being intercepted or tampered with by malicious users. For users to successfully negotiate communications with a domain controller that runs Windows Server 2003, these default security settings require that client computers use both server message block (SMB) signing and encryption or signing of secure channel traffic. Clients that run Windows NT 4.0 with SP2 or earlier installed and clients that run Windows 95 do not have SMB packet signing enabled and cannot authenticate to a Windows Server 2003 domain controller.
RESOLUTION
Clients Side:

Windows NT4

1. Install Windows NT4 Service Pack 6a.

2. Install Internet Explorer 6 with Service Pack 1 or higher.

3. Install DSCLIENT utility from Windows 2000 Server installation disk.

Note: For additional information about Active Directory Client extensions for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0,
visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/server/evaluation/news/bulletins/adextension.asp

4. Enable NTLM 2 Authentication (please see "More Information" section for details).

5. Configure the workstation to use local WINS server.

by sgt_shultz

Windows 98/ME

1. Install Internet Explorer 6 with Service Pack 1 or higher.

2. Install Hot Fix Q323466 on the Windows 98/ME Client machine.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=323466

3. Enable NTLM 2 Authentication (please see "More Information" section for details).

4. Enable SMB Signing (please see "More Information" section for details).

5. Configure the workstation to use local WINS server.

Note: If you are using Windows 95, please follow the knowlagebase bellow:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;%5BLN%5D;811497

Note: If the logon problem didnt resolve, please review the following knowlagebase:

Problems logging on to a Windows 2000-based server or a Windows 2003-based server
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=272594

Servers side:

1. Configure each server in the domain to use local WINS server.

2. If you are using Windows 2000 or higher DHCP server, make sure that the DHCP can register old clients.

Note: Some articles recommend to disable SMB sign in the domain controller OU. Please avoid changing domain
controllers policy, and specialy dont disable SMB sign.

Note: Windows 98/ME clients have problem with computer names largers then eight characters. Please avoid
using long computer names.

MORE INFORMATION
Error Message When Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 Client Logs On to Windows Server 2003 Domain

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811497&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

by sgt_shultz

How to Enable NTLM 2 Authentication

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q239/8/69.ASP&NoWebContent=1
How to Enable SMB Signing in Windows 98

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q230/5/45.asp&NoWebContent=1

Active Directory Client Extensions for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 4.0

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/server/evaluation/news/bulletins/adextension.asp

How Windows 95 and Windows 98 Directory Services Client Uses Active Directory Site Information

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;249841

Windows 2000 DNS White Paper

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/howitworks/communications/nameadrmgmt/w2kdns.asp

Windows Server 2003 Server and Macintosh

http://www.macwindows.com/Win2003.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

APPLIES TO
? Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
? Microsoft Windows Server 2003 64-bit Enterprise Edition
? Microsoft Windows Server 2003 64-bit Enterprise Edition
? Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition
? Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
? Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition

by edlockett

OKay, I have followed the microsoft article meticulously and applied the fix to two of my machines. At first, I thought that we were getting somewhere. I was able to log on and off several times without a problem.
After a while though I noticed that the logon problem was still ocurring. The shares remain inaccessible until a user logs on.
In addition, 98 users are now prompted for an irrelevant password when they try to connect to printer shares on XP machines.
So in conclusion, microsoft's "fix" has actually caused a new problem of its own. Users on 98 boxes are unable to print to printers attached to XP boxes. Sigh.

Many thanks for your help though, and all the best.

by seliuta

i got the same problem on one of the customer-network i support,what i did is i deleted the user accounts on server and created them again,everything went fine,You can do the same on shares too.good luck

by edlockett

Do you mean delete ALL of the user accounts and re-create them?
This would be a bit of a headache due to the users' exchange mailboxes...

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