Policy Not Applied When You Log On Using a Space in the Domain Name (237923)

SYMPTOMS

If you log on to a Microsoft Windows NT domain and you have one or more spaces at the end of the domain name in the Domain edit control on the Enter Network Password dialog box, your automatic (server-based) policy is not applied. You do not receive an error message if this occurs.

If you rely on automatic policies to configure Windows 95 or Windows 98 workstations, this issue may have security or desktop management implications.

CAUSE

This issue can occur because before Windows applies a policy from the validating domain controller's NETLOGON share, Windows invokes the network management API function 'NetWkstaGetInfo' in order to verify that the server is in the correct domain.

The domain name returned by the network is compared to the one obtained from the logon dialog box. Since the one domain name contains a trailing space, and the other does not, the compare fails, and the policy is not used.

RESOLUTION

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that this article describes. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

   Date      Time    Version     Size    File name     Platform
   ------------------------------------------------------------
   07/08/99  02:16PM 4.00.955    61,952  MSNET32.DLL   Windows 95
   07/08/99  02:51PM 4.10.2223   61,952  MSNET32.DLL   Windows 98

MORE INFORMATION

The update described in this article adds stronger domain name format validation to the logon process. If the update is applied, and a domain name with trailing SPACE characters is entered during logon, the following message will be displayed in a dialog box with the title 'Microsoft Networking':

Incorrect Parameter

For additional information about updates, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

161020 Implementing Windows 95 Updates

For additional information about system policies, see Chapter 15, "User Profiles and System Policies," in the Microsoft Windows 95 Resource Kit, or Chapter 8, "System Policies," in the Microsoft Windows 98 Resource Kit.

For addition information, a white paper entitled "Guide to Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Profiles and Policies" can be downloaded from the Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com

. For additional information about Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition hotfixes, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

206071 General Information About Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition Hotfixes

For additional information about Windows 95 hotfixes, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: