4

The latest generation HP computers with solid state drives and Win 10 are booting so fast that Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol is not allowing network access in time for Group Policy to process on startup.

• Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon: This is already enabled. Ethernet link negotiation has finished, Windows thinks the port is up, but MSTP has the port blocked for a few seconds while it determines there is no loop.

• Startup Policy Processing Wait Time: Doesn't help, Windows has every indication the network stack is ready, but the switch is blocking comms as per above.

• PortRapid: The documentation for the HP Switch says it already detects which ports are likely workstations and enables rapid MSTP detection.

• Disable MSTP: Possible, but it means a user can take down the entire network by plugging in their phone incorrectly (ie connecting their two ports to the phone, etc). Disabling MSTP does mean Group Policy processes correctly.

Old computers are fine, they take 20+ seconds before group policy begins application. These appear to be processing it in ~5 secs.

Anyone have any bright ideas to make Win 10 wait for network communication to succeed (not just for it to be reported as hardware connected) before it begins processing Group Policy?

Dom
  • 731
  • 1
  • 8
  • 19
  • Personally I'd enable portfast (or whatever HP calls it) and not rely on the automatic detection mechanism. You can easily test this with a single port and one of the affected workstations. – joeqwerty Feb 20 '16 at 02:49
  • Unfortunately for this switch series it can't be enabled or disabled manually. HP's attitude is that their equivalent of PortFast is automatically enabled for all ports that it detects as appropriate (ie it's seen no SW-SW style traffic). I can't make any changes to it. – Dom Feb 20 '16 at 03:02
  • I feel gross even saying it, but what about a startup script set in these machines' local Group Policy to wait a few seconds, followed by `gpupdate /force`? – HopelessN00b Feb 20 '16 at 09:05
  • Hmm, I feel gross reading it. I'm contemplating logging a case with MS for $300 to see what happens. What I need is a "Wait xx Seconds for connection to Domain Controller on Startup". – Dom Feb 24 '16 at 03:42
  • Logged a case with MS Support @ ~$450 a pop. 1) They asked me at least 6 times to describe the problem, even though they were given this description. 2) Then they asked me to describe my specific problem, they seemed to have trouble with the concept that I wrote this. 3) Then they told me to turn on PortRapid. 4) Then they said that Windows was operating as designed. 5) Then they said what I wanted was considered a change request, and I needed to pay more money for a different Professional Services team to look into the matter. – Dom Jul 08 '16 at 02:20

0 Answers0