Computer Logon Usernames in "Connect to Server" Dialog Box Reset to Shortname

[#1]

Hi everyone...

Long time lurker, first time poster. I am running Casper 8.1 Suite, in a 72 Snowleopard Mac environment, in which I have a policy running to Update Inventory and Software Update Server is running once a day after 15 mins of activity.....and I'm starting notice that when people connect to the servers (Apple K or browsing for the server) the saved keychain of their server login and password isn't populating automatically, and instead the full computer username is instead. Which of course, the clients ignore and put their passwords in, and panic when they cannot get onto the server.

So I tell them to just type in their username (which is also the shortname on the machine) and then it saves it for the rest of the day in their keychain again. I tried to look up if the Update Inventory policy replaces a preference file or resets a system file somewhere by default, because it's the only system level change I have done in the last few weeks....but I just cant find any documentation on what the actual process of Reconning (or Updating the Inventory, which aren't they the same) is, and how it might affect server logon preferences.

Anyways you can see why I don't write these things cause I am terrible :) Anyone have any ideas?
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tamara wiggins
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[talkingmoose]

So I tell them to just type in their username (which is also the shortname on the machine) and then it saves it for the rest of the day in their keychain again. I tried to look up if the Update Inventory policy replaces a preference file or resets a system file somewhere by default, because it's the only system level change I have done in the last few weeks....but I just cant find any documentation on what the actual process of Reconning (or Updating the Inventory, which aren't they the same) is, and how it might affect server logon preferences.
On 12/8/11 5:25 PM, "Tamara Wiggins" <Tamara.Wiggins at 180LA.com<mailto:Tamara.Wiggins at 180LA.com>> wrote:

If I'm understanding you correctly I don't believe subsequent logins are necessarily working because something is getting stored in the keychain. If you connect to a server and have an active connection then any attempts to connect to other volumes or shares on the server are immediately processed without having to authenticate again. The computer name shouldn't be populating the user name field but rather the user account's display name (long name) is getting entered.

This may or may not be of use to you but in our environment, which is using AD, a user's display name is automatically populated any time he tries to authenticate to a server. This display name doesn't work with some of our Windows servers but the short name always works with any server. I have a Managed Preference (MCX) that forces the authentication window to populate the user short name instead of the display name. This saves my users from having to manually enter their short name and prevents those panic calls when they can't connect to the server with the display name.

This is one of the few managed preferences I apply to all Macs I manage. Not sure that I still need both preferences to accomplish this but I use them both for now:

Display name: All - Finder use short name
Description: This along with the "Finder use short name" setting will set the preference for the Finder to use either the display name or the user short name.
Apply Setting To: User Level Enforced
Domain: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.NetworkAuthorization
Key: UseShortName
Key Type: boolean
Value: True

Display name: All - Finder use default name
Description: This along with the "Finder use short name" setting will set the preference for the Finder to use either the display name or the user short name.
Apply Setting To: User Level Enforced
Domain: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.NetworkAuthorization
Key: UseDefaultName
Key Type: boolean
Value: True

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William Smith
Technical Analyst
Merrill Communications LLC
(651) 632-1492