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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?

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  • After further testing I have some more data. The original DC I joined to was a 2003 server. When I join to a 2008 DC, the settings above work. The group policies are supposed to be the same on them but I am not confident in that. So I am guessing its either the result of the GPs being set in a specific way on the 2003 DC (any ideas as to where to look?) or some compatibility issue between 2008/2003. Dec 1, 2011 at 16:21
  • What happens if you set the DefaultUserName value to "domain\username" (where "domain" is the NetBIOS domain name, not the FQDN)?
    – Jonathan J
    Dec 1, 2011 at 22:12

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This code works fine joining to our 2008 DC. What I believe the problem was has to do with some of our security settings and possilby kerberos between a 2008 server joining a 2003 hosted domain

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