Why do I need an extension to log into the network?

Question

Anywhere else in the building I just need to use my username and password to log into the server, but on my laptop, for some reason I need to user the server name as well, like so;

SERVER_NAME\User
Password

There are several other laptops in the network, but this only occurs on my laptop. Why?

Answer 1

Add or promote your laptop to domain controller and check the reported issue

Step One

Starting at the desktop, click the Start button. Find Computer and right-click the menu item. A submenu will appear, and you will select Properties

Step Two

The System Properties window will appear. Under the Computer Name, Domain, and Workgroup settings. you will see a shield icon with Change Settings. Click this text link.

Step Three

The System Properties dialog box will appear. Under the Computer Name, tab click the Change… button.

Step Four

A Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box will appear. Under the Member of section, select the Domain radio button. Input your domain into the field. Your domain name will be supplied by your supervisor or network administrator.

Important! Before adding a system to the domain, make sure there is no other system with that same name.

Step Five

Another dialog box will appear immediately, prompting you to log in using your domain/network credentials. Input your username and password and click the OK button.

Step Six

If you managed to input all your credentials correctly, and you achieve connectivity to the domain controller, you will be welcomed to the xxxxxxxxxx domain.

Step Seven

You will be prompted to restart your system. Click the OK button.

Step Eight

You will be prompted again to restart the computer from the System Properties dialog box near the bottom of the box with Changes will take effect after you restart this computer. Click the Close button.

Step Nine

You will at last be prompted to restart your system again after closing the prior dialog box. Click the Restart Now button to complete the process.

Step Ten

After restarting, you will be welcomed back to Windows with the user logon screen. You will notice that the default login account is a local machine account “MachineName\Username”. Just below the password field, click the “Switch User” button. At the next screen click the “Other User” button (presumably with no display picture). This will automatically put you on the domain. Just sign in with your normal domain credentials beyond this point.

Note: To log back in to the machine account, type in .\Username (Where username is the name of your local account, such as the default Administrator: .\Administrator). Input your password and log in to a local off-domain account.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Your problem seems to be that your Windows version is Home/Basic and so cannot join the office domain. This is an artificial limitation by Microsoft whose purpose is to motivate the upgrade to Pro or Ultimate.

My research of the issue indicates that Home/Basic cannot join a domain because a registry entry blocks the required protocol. It might not work any more with Server 2012, but the old remedy was in the laptop to regedit to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa and create a DWORD item named LmCompatibilityLevel with the value of 1. Reboot is required.