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Logon Scripts do not run on W2K Prof PCs

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by parogi

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I have a WINNT 4.0 Domain.
I have logon scripts that are on ALL PDCs and BDCs in the NETLOGON share. My logon scripts(all .bat files) map drives for users and make sure virus .dat files are up to date as well as setting PC times to match the server. I have a mix of DOS/Win3.11, Win95, Win98, WinNT and now W2K workstations. The logon scripts run successfully on all computers (lost some hair getting it to work with the sparse env. variables available) but my problem is that my W2K Prof workstations do not run the script at all. It is not a syntax problem in the script. It is not a unicode character problem either. When they(W2K Prof OS Workstations) logon they do not attempt to run the script defined in user manager under profile. Ifthe same user logs in to any other OS they work fine. I think that either the desktop is loading to fast and missing the script or that the default location of scripts is different in W2K but I cannot resolve the problem. I cannot find any policy templates for W2K that allow me to set a policy on running logon scripts either.

Help. I need my scripts and I am not upgrading my domain to W2K Servers.

I have also noticed that if I put a copy of the batch file in my startup folder the drive mappings will not work. I have to wait for the desktop to load and run it again. Then it works. But I want to run all login.bat files from the NETLOGON folder so I can keep them updated.

8 replies

by jolly roger

Clicking Start/Help and selecting the Search tab and entering Logon Script reveals the following:

To activate a logon script

Open Network and Dial-up Connections.
Right-click the connection on which you want to run a script, and then click Properties.
On the Security tab, select the Run script check box.
To use an existing script file, click Browse.
Or, to use Switch.inf, click Edit.

Notes

To open Network and Dial-up Connections, click Start, point to Settings, and then click Network and Dial-up Connections.
In addition to Switch.inf, the Windows 95 scripting language is supported for computers running Windows 2000 that connect to computers running a non-Microsoft operating system. You may find the Windows 95 scripting language easier to use than Switch.inf. For more information, see Related Topics.
If you click Edit and load Switch.inf into Notepad, immediately resave the file with a different name to preserve the default Switch.inf file.
Related Topics
Does this not solve your problem?

by umbral-echo

Unfortunately, the "Security" tab only exists for dial-up connection and VPNs.

The location for logon scripts is not different in Windows 2000 in the slightest, though the path for the Netlogon folder would be different on a Windows 2000 Server.

One possible solution to this problem would be to add the logon script to the scripts section of the Local Group Policy Object. This will run the script each time any user logs on, which will not be acceptable if you have different scripts for each user. However, if you don't, here's how to do it.

1. Type MMC at the run command.
2. Choose "Add/Remove Snap-in" from the "Console" menu. Then hit the "Add" button.
3. Find "Group Policy" in the list and add it. Close both dialog boxes. Save the console if you want to be able to find it again.
4. Open the tree structure of the "Local Computer Policy" icon and open the "User Configuration" section. Open the "Windows Settings" folder and click to highlight "Scripts".
5. Look on the right-hand pane and double-click on the "Logon" icon.
6. Use Browse to search for the script and select it. This will import the logon script into the Group Policy.
7. Close the Group Policy Console and reboot.

The script will run for each user.

by parogi

I want to be able to designate the logon script to be run in User Manager for Domains. I have an NT4.0 network. I want to intergrate W2K Prof into it. I do not want to manage every PC individually. I need to get the W2K workstations to run the logon script specified in user manager for domains...by user not machine.

by jillbean

Not an answer - just idea
MMC - Add Snapin for Group Security policy
User configuration\administrative templates\logon/logoff

try run logon scripts syncronously (enable)
run legacy logon scripts hidden (disable)

by parogi

I should close this question because I figured it out. I am having stealth logins. If you join the WINNT domain from a W2K workstation it does not correctly join. There are no errors but if you then logon from the workstation it will apear to logon but not really. If you type echo %logonserver% at a command prompt you will see you are logged on by your workstation. That is a cached account!. So you must remove the computer from the domain, change the local machine to a workgroup and reboot. Add the computer to the domain through server manager then join the domain from the local computer again. Then it will logon correctly (although it always goes to the PDC for authentication instead of our local BDCs). It will now run logon scripts if I also enable logon scripts run syncronously. Is there a way to get W2K to read a .pol file from the server?

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