Windows 8.1 domain issues

[Jtrotta]

Hello All,

 

This is my first post here on Edugeek! I have a fairly complicated problem i need your help with. Ok so I inherited a schools network heres a little info below

 

Server: Windows server 2008 R2

 

We do not use roaming profiles

 

we have ~100 Xp machines (work like champs)

we have ~30 Win 7 machines (also work like champs)

we have 25 window 8.1 machines that are a thorn in my side

 

All our computers run a "clean slate" program that reinstates the hard drive to factory form at the end of each day so no matter what the kids do the computers will always remain "brand new"

 

 

 

Question: I have 25 windows 8.1 computers that take 3-4 mins to start on each hard reboot! as you can guess this is a pain in the butt. It used to take even longer because of the "first sign-in animation" where windows explains how to use Windows 8. However, i manually disabled this function. Windows 8 take almost 1:30 "preparing windows" but if you press control alt delete it boots straight to the desktop with ease. This leads me to believe nothing is actually happing when windows is being "prepaired". I found a very very similar post by @AndiMarv here http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-8/111717-windows-8-domain-login-issue.html but that was never resolved.

 

Does anyone know how to remove this seemingly unnecessary step in the boot process?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[JPElectron]

Are these computers getting a DHCP lease in time? meaning they must get an IP before you would expect the logon desktop to load. some switches with port security or STP may inhibit this. When the computer does get a DHCP lease, does it include DNS servers that are ONLY the IP(s) of your domain controllers?

 

Post the output of... Start > Run > cmd > ipconfig /all ...if you are unsure

[Jtrotta]

They seem to get the IP's in time. I never thought of that as a problem because our Windows xp and Windows 7 machines log in in a heart beat and are fully functional( meaning they are connected to the network).

 

 

 

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.X.X (I intentailly put the X's)

208.67.32.22

208.67.32.141

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, March 04, 2014 11:25:22 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, March 05, 2014 11:25:22 A

[DMcCoy]

Assuming the profile is reset, it's installing the per user apps, just without telling you because the animation is disabled.

[Jtrotta]

@DMcCoy I thought the same but why then when i click Ctrl + alt+ delete at any moment during(even the very begging as soon as the words appear) " Preparing Windows" is it able to load the desktop and a fully functional start menu?

[JPElectron]

Problem...

 

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.X.X (I intentailly put the X's)

208.67.32.22

208.67.32.141

 

...so for DNS servers you have an internal address (192.168.X.X) followed by two external ones (AutoExec Computer Systems, Inc)

 

This is NOT how you do it.

 

Internal devices should have internal (Active Directory) servers listed ONLY. Then in your AD DNS server, under properties, forwarding tab, define the ISP's servers. You would be wise to have more than one AD DNS server.

 

Also, you should ensure your Connection-specific DNS Suffix (displayed when you do an ipconfig /all) matches the FQDN of your internal AD domain.

Edited March 5, 2014 by JPElectron

[Liam]

Anyone ever resolve this??

 

I have come to the same problem. flies through login until it hits 'preparing windows'. Press ctrl alt del and its fine.

 

Surely there is something to prevent this.

[Norphy]

It sounds to me like it's installing provisioned Modern apps. It may be worth removing them with the following Powershell command:

 

Get-ProvisionedAppXPackage -online | remove-provisionedappxpackage

 

A word of warning though, this will remove all of the modern apps for all future users on your computer and you won't be able to get them back very easily. It should speed up your login process though.

[Liam]

Iv done that. It's taking like 45 seconds to login.

[Jtrotta]

Unfortunatly, I have not resolved this issue. However, I don't know if you use a freezing agent like deepfreeze or clean slate but i found that if you disable this protection and create a general log in ie: Student, Teacher ect... then log in and re-enable the protection that profile will get cached and then be able to log in in seconds. Other than that quick work around or CNT-ALT-DLT i have not been able to solve this issue. Please if any of you solve it please let me know.

[Tay]

I'm not sure if this will help your issue or not but there is a setting in 8.1 group policy that delays logon scripts for 5 minutes to allow for slow scripts. It was causing an issue for us trying to get through our web filter. Students would boot the machine and couldn't get on the Internet for 5 minutes. If you have the latest GPO files the setting is located in Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Group Policy > Configure Logon Script Delay

[Liam]

This sign help sorry. Still can't get logged in within 40 seconds. U have windows 7 logging and the kids still describe my network crap lol

[Liam]

Just read my last post back... shocking.. damn phone.

 

What i meant to say was, i cannot get logged in in less than 40 seconds. MY windows 7 pcs log in within 6 seconds so i cannot afford to be waiting almost 7 times as long. Surely someone has resolved this somewhere.

 

I think it is defo metro related.

[DCUK6]

Have so far removed all the built in apps and disabled the login script delay.

 

After 4 mins and 15 secs it comes up with hi and then installing apps.

 

4mins and 50 secs it logs in

[Michael]

Have you considered imaging the 25 Windows 8.1 devices to Windows 7, then in time imaging the remaining 100 XP devices also to Windows 7? This'll make your life even easier, plus you can then return to the 8.1 issue, knowing the rest of your network is stable.

[sted]

try disabling windows defender if you have another av program installed. I also found that if your start menu has links to programs stored on a shared drive it increases logon times so try it without a redirected start menu see if that helps

[Arthur]

try disabling windows defender if you have another av program installed.

Windows Defender should be automatically disabled when you install another AV program though.

[sted]

Windows Defender should be automatically disabled when you install another AV program though.

 

it should but dosent always and im not 100% sure windows recognises sophos as antivirus

[Oaktech]

We've had an issue recently where when an 8.1 tablet has a box fresh install the first time a user logs on it shows a black screen for up to 5 minutes.

 

If you connect a keyboard and ctrl+alt+del during the black screen it show that MS Endpoint is going crazy. Could it be that?

 

I've done some tweaking of MS Endpoint policy and it's got it down to a bout 5-10 seconds of black screen.

[DCUK6]

Managed to get one test login in before I got called away but it completed in 1min 20secs instead of the normal 5.

 

I removed all the built in crapps and then disabled IP v6.

 

Gpupdate wouldn't work so disabled v6 and it all kicked in.

[Arthur]

and then disabled IPv6.

Did you disable it the correct way to avoid the five second boot delay?

Edited December 5, 2014 by Arthur

[DCUK6]

Did you disable it the correct way to avoid the five second boot delay?

 

Did it the manual way on that tablet. Thanks for the link though, this is my next thing to look for.

 

Tried a few other things and havnt found anythin else yet that causes it.

[DCUK6]

 

Heres a log of when a user logged in (removed names).

 

Isass.exe takes 365 twice and svchost takes 518

Edited December 10, 2014 by DCUK6