Windows XP in the UCB AD

Professional vs. Home

One of the primary differences between the Professional and Home editions of Windows XP is that the Home edition cannot join an Active Directory or Windows NT 4 domain. To participate in the UCB AD with Windows XP you will have to run the Professional edition. In general, Windows XP behaves much like Windows 2000 in regards to Active Directory with a couple of exceptions noted below.

Using IdentiKey for logins

The process for configuring Windows XP Professional to use IdentiKey usernames and passwords for login is the same as for Windows 2000 (see www.colorado.edu/its/windows2000/adminguide/configidkey.html for details). However, the default login behavior of Windows XP causes some problems and must be changed. By default, Windows XP will login using credentials cached from a previous login by that same user and not verify the username and password against the domain controllers until after the user has logged in. This post-login verification of the username and password does not work properly in the UCB AD due to the configuration to leverage the IdentiKey accounts. To prevent problems from occurring due to this default behavior, you will have to disable the caching of logins on Windows XP systems using GPOs or local policy settings.

Group Policy Objects

Windows XP Professional allows for additional GPO settings not available under Windows 2000. These additional GPO settings are only available when creating or editing a GPO from a Windows XP workstation. These XP specific settings will not apply to Windows 2000 computers within the scope of the GPO, nor will they be visible when editing a GPO from a Windows 2000 computer. To avoid confusion when editing or troubleshooting GPOs with Windows XP specific settings, ITS recommends noting the presence of XP settings in the GPO name (e.g. "ITS Service Center WinXP GPO").

Getting Help

help@colorado.edu