We're a k-12 school running on a server 2003 network. For the past six weeks our windows 7 (professional and enterprise) machines have started having problems logging in. The welcome screen takes 5-10 minutes before the login screen will even show up. After the login the screen turns black but with a mouse cursor visible. It will eventually login but it may take a couple of hours. If I disconnect the ethernet cable and reboot I can login within 45-60 seconds. I reconnect the cable and the machine is on the network, printers available etc. I've tried reinstalling windows 7, running checks for malware (vexira, defender, security essentials, malwarebytes) but have found nothing wrong. I've disabled video drivers, desktop management services with no luck. Any advice would be appreciated.

Slow logons may be caused by several problems: Wrong DNS settings Mapped drives Scripts ... Make sure that your client computers are using your internal DNS server as primary one. Also, check which group policies are applied and fo to event viewer for more information about such delays. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration

I agree with Mr X. This is almost always a DNS problem. Run "ipconfig" and check the dns server settings. It should be your local DNS server.

Solved it. I inherited this job last June. Six physical servers and three virtual servers for 200 computers and 425 users. There were three DNS servers. I changed our DHCP settings to another DNS server and alternate. Immediate logons! Solved but I'm still confused why it's only affecting window 7 machines (XP's are fine), and why it started six weeks ago. Could it have anything to do with IPv6 addresses turned on? The event logs had a few warnings but no errors. Anyway, thanks for the great advice. I can sleep tonight. rick Plumlee

Thanks, Mike. Yeah, our LAN is pretty much a mess but I've narrowed the problem down a little more. Our DHCP server wasn't wanting to hand out addresses to the Windows 7 machines. XP's were having no problems and Windows 7 machines with static IP's were fine. Monday morning the same logon problem popped up, I rebooted the DHCP server, restarted the Windows 7 machines, and they all booted up just fine. When I get time I'm going to take a closer look at the DHCP server.rick Plumlee

I would also look at the physical infrastructure, i.e., the LAN. If more than 3 switches are daisy chained between the workstation and the domain controller, you can have authentication problems. I had this happen at a client’s office I was working on. I could ping the domain controller but I could not authenticate at the workstation. After much frustration, I found the client had put a cheap Ethernet switch in the ceiling (rather than adding a few data drops in his newly expanded office). That switch was plugged into a third switch which was plugged into a second switch, which was plugged into the “main” switch. I took the cheap switch out of the picture and the workstation authenticated immediately. When a LAN is set up as listed above, some basic packets will get through (like the “ping” packets, making it hard to troubleshoot) but other packets are dropped (the authentication packets). Many non-technical users do not realize that you can’t endlessly daisy chain your Ethernet switches. All secondary switches (and servers) should be plugged directly into the “main” switch. Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 are more susceptible to these issues than older versions of Windows (in preparation for IPv6). Mike