Laptops hang at "loading profile" after login w/ domain account...

Issue: Laptops hang at "loading profile" after login w/ domain account when
not on the domain.
OS: Windows XP SP3
Domain Controller OS: Windows 2003 x64 SP2
Details: Laptops login fine when connected to the domain.
Recent Changes to Group Policy: none
Recent Software Installations: none
Other Recent Changes: I think DHCP and DNS was recently turned off on one of
our servers. Possibly also the server role was changed so it is no longer a
domain controller. We still have another domain controller running DHCP and
DNS. I will try to confirm these changes with the techs and get more
details. Also there have been many Windows patches lately.
Possibly Related Event log messages:
- Event ID 1054, Source Userenv, User NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM, Windows Cannot
obtain the domain controller name for your computer network (The specified
domain either does not exist or could not be contacted). Group Policy
processing aborted.
- Event ID 1003, Source: Dhcp, User N/A, Your computer was not able to renew
its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with
network address 0007E96DA6FE. The following error occurred: The semaphore
timeout period has expired. Your computer will continue to try and obtain an
address on it own from the network address (DHCP) server.

Set up logging for userenv and then see what is taking the time,
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/221833

Below is the contents of the userenv.log file from a single login (I renamed
the previous userenv.log file). The entries that may be useful are towards
the end - notice the time stamp jumped from 5:04:35 p.m. to 5:06:37 p.m to
5:16:32 p.m. Twelve minutes total for the login to process!

Not much to go on there, I'm afraid.
You mentioned a couple of errors in the Event Log. What other errors do you
have relating to logon?
Do you have a slow logon with a domain account that does not have a roaming
profile?
Do you have a slow logon if you are not connected to _any_ network?

- Yes I have a slow logon with domain accounts that do not roam as well as
local accounts.
- The issue seems to occur when there is no network connection. This is a
problem when people want to use their laptops away from the office.
- It is not a group policy problem as far as I can tell because I moved the
computer name to a container that has blocked inheritance and no group
policies. I let group policy refresh by restarting Windows. Then I shut
down, pulled the network cable and tried logging in, but had the same issue.

I turned the userenv.log to verbose from normal and now I have a more
extensive logfile. Unfortunately this site does not let you attach files or
post this much text. I'm posting two sections that are peculiar. The first
is peculiar because the timestamp jumps from 10:33:46 to 10:33:08 (back in
time!!). The second is peculiar because the timestamp jumps from 10:35:12 to
10:44:33.

*****
USERENV(33c.354) 10:33:46:171 IProfileSecurityCallBack: client authenticated.
USERENV(33c.354) 10:33:46:171 ReleaseClientContext: Releasing context
USERENV(33c.354) 10:33:46:171 ReleaseClientContext_s: Releasing context
USERENV(33c.354) 10:33:46:171 MIDL_user_free enter
USERENV(368.13b0) 10:33:46:171 ReleaseInterface: Releasing rpc binding handle
USERENV(368.13b0) 10:33:46:171 UnloadUserProfile: returning 1
USERENV(de0.a90) 10:33:46:702 LibMain: Process Name:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe
USERENV(340.344) 10:33:08:686 InitializePolicyProcessing: Initialised
Machine Mutex/Events
USERENV(340.344) 10:33:08:706 InitializePolicyProcessing: Initialised User
Mutex/Events
USERENV(340.344) 10:33:08:706 LibMain: Process Name:
\??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
USERENV(36c.428) 10:44:34:682 LoadUserProfile: Yes, we can impersonate the
user. Running as self



It looks like I have narrowed the problem down to a system service.
Eliminating half of the services at a time I should be able to find the
problematic service after 7 tests (assuming it is only one particular
service). I can export the services to a CSV file and probably use that list
to put everything back when I am done. I wish I had a hunch on which service
it was. We can make sure the service is set the same way as working
computers, we can check that the account the service uses is the same, and
if needed replace the executable for the service with one from a working
computer.


It turns out the web client service was responsible for the long login issue.
I have disabled the web client service company-wide and the problem is
resolved. I'm not sure, however, what suddenly caused the web client service
to be such a trouble-maker.

How did you isolate that as the cause?

I first found out it was a service problem by unchecking "load system
services" in Msconfig.

Thanks for that input, Josh! A few computers in our office are having this problem as well; the startup (not after you enter your login information) takes a very long time. The message displayed is "Applying Computer Settings..." and can take over several minutes to complete.

The WebClient Service is not responsible for this error, but disabling it does (in our situation) remedy the problem for the time being.
The reason I say this is because the WebClient service simply allows access to the internet for other processes and services that need it. It is merely a gateway, if you will.

So the culprit for us (and the rest of you, most likely) is a different service or process that is running on startup which requires access to the internet. Since that access is denied the process no longer makes attempts to reach outside and your issue is "fixed."

The painful thing about this is not only could it be one of the other processes running on your machine(s) during startup, but because it's accessing internet-based files, it could be something on another machine which is entirely out of your hands. That might explain why this issue pops up randomly at any given time: somebody else changed something, and it has this certain effect on your startup services/processes.

That's my two cents- and I'll repost when I find out what the problem here is exactly.

Zechs77,

It sounds like we are having the exact same issue. On startup, some XP machines sit at "Applying Computer Settings" for anywere from 10-45 minutes. If we disable the WebClient service the issue goes away. I agree with you in that this service is a patch to the problem and not the cause.

Did you ever find a resolution or fix for this?

No, we never found a resolution for this- we kind of put the issue on the backburner for the time being. It only happened to a few of our users (5 or less). If it's of any help, these users all have java-based applications that make connections on startup, as well as most of these users have oracle 6 developer forms and reports.