Windows 7 Network Login

[Joelc]

Hey, I work for a small, non-profit organization, and we use small business server 2008. We have our computers set up to do a network login (meaning I can sit down at any computer that we own and login using my user info and access all my server drives, even if I've never used that computer before).

My question is, how do I set that up in Windows 7? I have access to all the server info I need, but I don't know where to go in Windows 7 to actually input that info to set it up so I can do that. Any help would be great!

 

[Trouble]

It's likely that the domain administrator has login scripts in place. So I would imagine that you would have to join the Windows 7 machine to the domain, and login with the appropriate domain credentials.
Best to check with whoever is responsible for administering the 2k8 SBS.
Welcome to the forums.
Randy

 

[Joelc]

The administrator is away, that is why it has fallen to me to do. I watched him do it once, and he logged in the admin account, then clicked around (I couldn't follow what he was doing, he did I too fast and was on XP) then entered the server info, and it worked... So I don't think he has a script...

 

[Trouble]

He is almost certainly either using login scripts or roaming user profiles. In either case they are likely associated with explicit users or user groups and are not likely something you need to set up individually on a computer by computer basis.
If the Windows 7 machine is Professional or higher then you just need to join it to the domain and login in with your domain credentials and things should work. You'll need to make sure that the W7 machine is pointed at your local (Domain) DNS resolver for name resolution which is also likely pre-configured already with a DHCP Scope.
The only other thing I can think of is he might have computer's assigned to specific OUs and a Domain Group Policy might be having some impact on what's going on, so you'll need to take a look at how the domain is structured and see if he has different computers within different OU containers.

 

[Joelc]

Yes, the users are already set up on the server, it's adding the option to chose local or the domain (and adding the domain) I need help with. I've never dealt with windows serve-client set up before, and only have very limited knowledge of Mac server stuff, I'm a videographer and graphic designer so I have lots of knowledge of Mac workings, but with him gone, I gotta be the windows techie... So where do I set up the server stuff so I can login with the domain?

 

[Trouble]

Click the start orb, and right click computer and choose properties
Click the Change settings link (middle on the right)
Computer Name tab
Change button click
Domain radio button
Type in the name of the domain (yourdomain.whatever)
you'll be prompted for domain credentials to support the joining of the domain, enter the domain admin's credentials
If the DNS is configured properly you should get a welcome and a prompt to reboot.
Reboot and log on with your normal domain credentials.

 

[Joelc]

Thanks! That was all I needed!

 

[Trouble]

Great, glad to hear that you were able to resolve your issue. Thanks for posting back and updating your thread.
Hope to continue to see you around the forums.
Regards
Randy