Windows XP logon fails with multiple NICs

Question

I have a windows XP machine with two NIC's.

NIC A is configured as DHCP and connected to the company network.
NIC B is configured as static and connected to a network client.

The IP ranges of the NICS do not overlap:

NIC A is in the 10.50.0..., SN Mask 255.255.254.0 range (When DHCP assigned).
NIC B is in the 198.211.143..., SN Mask 255.255.255.224 range.

DNS for both are configured as obtain automatically.

Trying to logon to our company domain, XP says:

Windows cannot connect to the domain, either because the domain controller is > down or otherwise unavailable, or your computer account was not found. Please try again later. If this message continues to appear, contact your system administrator for assistance.

When switching the ethernet cables so

NIC A is connected to a network client.
NIC B is connected to the company network.

Windows XP will let me logon, but of course without all of the domains network facilities. Switching the ethernet cables back again after this logon, NIC A is configured as expected and the company network is accessible.

Configuring both NIC's the other way around (DHCP/static), also turns around above story, resulting in the same situation. It looks like XP always tries to logon over the static configured NIC, while it should logon over the DHCP configured NIC.

We have multiple machines with the same setup, which do not have this problem, so I suspect it's a kind of setting?

Does anyone have an idea whats going on and how I can fix this issue so my machine will always logon to out company network (domain) over the DHCP configured NIC?

duenni · Answer 1 · 2017-02-28T14:44:58.573

0

First: don't use Windows XP. It's EOL.

Second: I think this is a DNS issue. Try to change the binding order of your NICs.

Open Network Connections
Advanced menu - Advanced Settings
Move the NIC you want to first position
Reboot

Depending on your network and DNS server configuration you may run in other issues when doing this.

edited Feb 28 '17 at 14:44

answered Feb 28 '17 at 14:33

duenni

2,959
1
23
38

I've checked the order of the NICS at the advanced setting and the company network is at the top of the list. Without a cable connected, I'm able to login, with cables, the same error appears. – dn Fer Mar 01 '17 at 09:13
What if only the company network cable is connected? – duenni Mar 01 '17 at 09:23
Does the account you are trying to log in with has special chars in it, like ä,ö,ü? – duenni Mar 01 '17 at 09:25
With only the company network connected, I have the same issue. – dn Fer Mar 01 '17 at 09:28
Oh... and no special chars in the credentials – dn Fer Mar 01 '17 at 09:49
Mhh, did you tried it with different accounts? What if you disable NIC B completely? – duenni Mar 01 '17 at 18:44
With NIC B disabled, the issue remains. Thank you for your effort btw. – dn Fer Mar 03 '17 at 08:54

Windows XP logon fails with multiple NICs

1 Answers1