I am a beginer to administring server 2003 and have a domain with a windows server 2003 domain controller and a windws xp client. my promblem is that when the domain controller is off logging into domain from xp client is completed successfully. How can i fix this problem. Thanks in advance and best regards. H.Ghayoumi

Dude, Domain Controllers handle ALL authentication in domain based networks since they store the domain's account database. DC's should be available 99.999% of the time. They are a critical resource in a domain. Please help survivors of Hurricane Katrina...err...Rita. Starting to lose track... www.redcross.org

If i'm reading this right your problem is actually that when your DC is offline you CAN still log into the XP machine. This happens because your creditials are cached in the XP machine. So if you have succesfully logged into with the DC online you will then be able to do so when it is offline. Although it will take longer due to the client spending time trying to find the DC and authenticate to it.

Thanks for your attention. But How can i prevent my credentials to be cached in the xp machine? H.Ghayoumi

It's a Group Policy setting. Set "Interactive Logon: Number of previous logons to cache (in case domain controller is not available)" to 0. Please help survivors of Hurricane Katrina...err...Rita. Starting to lose track... www.redcross.org

But, in which machine should i set this group policy setting? xp machine or my domain controller? H.Ghayoumi

A DC won't be caching it's own login attempts since if it can't find itself, you've got SERIOUS issues. Set it in a GPO linked to an OU with whichever client computers you want it to apply to. Be aware that laptops being taken out into the field should probably not have this setting applied to them. Please help survivors of Hurricane Katrina...err...Rita. Starting to lose track... www.redcross.org