Problems with Outlook authentication and Exchange 2003

[DaveyPitch]

Hi all,

 

Got a problem with Outlook 2010 here and hopefully someone can help. We've moved this summer from Windows XP and Office 2003 over to Windows 7 and Office 2010 throughout the entire school, and everything has generally gone much smoother than I anticipated, bar this one problem. Previously, most of the staff here used OWA as their email client (which is quite frankly rubbish with Exchange 2003), and when we upgraded, I wanted to move everyone over to the desktop client (for info, our Exchange server is on it's own little domain, which I'll call email, while the rest of the school is attached to our standard domain). Now, if people have the same email and domain password, when they start Outlook, they get logged straight in with no issues. However, if people have separate passwords, it prompts them to enter their details, as I would expect, except for the fact they have to enter their details as email\username, and their password. While this works, it's not an ideal situation, and I'd like to get it so that all they have to do is enter their username and password, without having to worry about putting the email\ in first. If they forget to enter the email\ first, it tries to authenticate them with domain\username, which then obviously fails.

 

I've done a lot of Googling regarding this, and can't seem to find anything about it. I wasn't around when the server was initially set up, so I don't know if it's just a small configuration change that needs to be made, or whether this is just standard behaviour which we'll have to put up with (or use as ammunition to try and convince senior management that everyone should have the same email and network passwords). If anyone has any ideas about this, I'd be eternally grateful.

[sukh]

1. How are you accessing the mailbox when facing this issue? OWA? Or Outlook client? Version?

2. How many AD forests and domains do you have?

3. Is this an issue for all users or some?

[DaveyPitch]

1. Only on the Outlook client, 2010 version. It could have been a problem on 2003 as well, but the staff never used the client version then. My guesstimate is that the problem would still be there.

2. 1 AD forest on the main domain (which all the computers log in to - domain.internal), another on the Exchange server (which, as mentioned, is on its own little domain and not part of the main domain - email.local).

3. It's an issue for every user who don't have synchronous passwords between the two domains.

[sukh]

1. When you mean 2 domains, do you mean 2 domains in the same forest? Or do you have 2 forest?

[DaveyPitch]

It's ok now thanks, I've sorted it. Whoever set up the server a few years ago didn't create any trust between the two domains. I spotted that this morning, and along with a couple of permission changes on the accounts, everything is now working pretty much how I want it to. Now all I need to do is figure out how to get Outlook to always ask for credentials on login across the school (I know how to do it on individual accounts, but not roll it out across the board), and then stop Outlook loading the account in offline mode if credentials are not provided.