Problem with Password Changes

For some reason, some users on my SBS 2K network have been having problems
changing their passwords. I have one user, running Windows 98, who changed
her password and now can't get validated by the Exchange Server. This same
user has no problems connecting to the Exchange Server from a Windows XP
machine, so I think it's OS-related. I tried deleting the *.pwl files on
the Win98 machine, to no effect. Both machines are running Outlook XP, so
it's not an Outlook difference.

In addition, I have another user (on a 2000 machine) who has to reset his
password 3 or 4 times (resetting to the same password each time) before the
change takes effect, i.e. before he can log into the machine with the new
password.

I had thought that this was related to the fact that the memory on the
server is low (1-2%), but apparently that's a normal effect for a server
running Exchange. So now I'm puzzled.

Is this an Active Directory problem of some kind? Can anyone tell me where
to start looking?




Shannon Rotz
Vancouver, BC Canada

franzf
Tue Nov 11 07:19:28 CST 2003

Shannon,

Have you confirmed the domain and domain controller default policies
regarding passwords?
HAve you implemented MS Baseline Security recently?

225230 Enabling Strong Password Functionality in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=225230

258788 Cannot Change Password in Windows Without Logging on to Domain
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=258788

323467 Issues That Occur After You Implement the Microsoft Baseline Security
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323467

Franz Foster
Microsoft Technical Support
franzf@online.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Shannon
Tue Nov 11 16:13:46 CST 2003

As far as I remember, I haven't looked at the default policies - so
presumably they're the ones which were installed when I installed SBS. I
did a standard install, with no fancy configurations other than not
installing SQL Server.

I did not deliberately implement Baseline Security. However, my problem
sounds like one of the symptoms listed in #323467 arising from
"RestrictAnonymous=2", i.e. not being able to re-create the e-mail profile.
I also read 246261 on the RestrictAnonymous, and it does sound as if it
might be the answer. I take it that the "Mixed Mode" referred to in the
article refers to a mixture of AD and non-AD clients.

The problem started about the time we upgraded from Office 97 to Office XP.
I think (I'll have to check out my records to be sure, though) that I may
have done some security updates to the server as well, possibly including
the security updates mentioned in the article. If so, then according to the
article I may be able to fix this by applying (or re-applying) SP4 or by
changing the RestrictAnonymous value in the registry.

Thanks a lot for pointing me (hopefully) in the right direction. This one
took me totally by surprise.

Shannon


"Franz Foster[MS]" <franzf@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:NjwyyZFqDHA.1332@cpmsftngxa06.phx.gbl...
> Shannon,
>
> Have you confirmed the domain and domain controller default policies
> regarding passwords?
> HAve you implemented MS Baseline Security recently?
>
> 225230 Enabling Strong Password Functionality in Windows 2000
> http://support.microsoft.com/?id=225230
>
> 258788 Cannot Change Password in Windows Without Logging on to Domain
> http://support.microsoft.com/?id=258788
>
> 323467 Issues That Occur After You Implement the Microsoft Baseline
Security
> http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323467
>
> Franz Foster
> Microsoft Technical Support
> franzf@online.microsoft.com
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
>