I am automating a set of procedures to configure several servers. These procedures include several reboots. To solve this in pre 2008 builds we set the reg keys
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\DefaultUserName = "username"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\DefaultPassword = "password
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\AutoAdminLogon = 1
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\AutoLogonCount = 1
From everything I read this still holds true for 2008. When I use this when the server is standalone, it works fine. But after I join it to a domain it no longer works. It does not even appear to attempt to logon.
As a test I used the wrong password (pre domain) and it attempted to logon and then presented me with the 'bad password' dialog. Doing the same thing under the domain I do not get the dialog. I checked the registry and AutoAdminLogon had been reset to 0, but the AutoLogonCount had not been deprecated.
As another test, I increased the AutoLogonCount to 2 and reboot the server. It remained at 2 (implying that it did not attempt to logon) and AutoAdminLogon was at 0 (implying that something else changed it).
I have read that if you don't include the DefaultPassword key that the system will automatcially change the value of AutoAdminLogn 0. Could something else like that be going on here?