Windows XP SP2, Vista, Windows 7 clients unable to connect to Netware CIFS

  • Document ID:3437586
  • Creation Date:24-Mar-2008
  • Modified Date:27-Apr-2012
    • Micro Focus Products:
      NetWare

Environment

Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 8
Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 7
Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 6
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Edition
Microsoft Windows Vista Business Edition

Situation

Windows XP SP2, Vista, Windows 7  clients are unable to connect to Netware 6.5 SP6 servers using CIFS.

Resolution

This is related to the NTLM version. Pre-Windows XP SP2 Microsoft operating systems used NTLM version 1. However, Windows XP SP2, Vista, and Windows 7 clients default to using NTLM version 2.
 
Netware 6.5 CIFS is unable to communicate over the NTLM version 2 protocol.

Windows 7
  • Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options -> Network Security: LAN Manager Authentication Level
  • Change this value to: Send LM and NTLM -use NTLM2 session security if negotiated
  • Reboot not needed

Vista Business and Ultimate
  • On the start menu in the search field type "gpedit.msc", hit enter. This will open the group policy editor.
  • Go to "Computer Configruation" -->"Windows Settings" -->"Security Settings" -->"Local Policies" -->"Security Options"
  • In the pane on the right side of the screen, select "Network Security: LAN Manager Authentication level." By default this read "Send NTLMv2 response only."
  • Change "Send NTLMv2 respone only" to "Send LM & NTLM -- use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated"
Vista Home Premium
Vista Home Premium and Home Basic have different networking capabilities. Because "gpedit.msc" is missing, registry editing will be required to fix the problem.

  • Open "regedit"
  • Go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" -->"SYSTEM" -->"CurrentControlSet" -->"Control" -->"Lsa"
  • In the pane on the right change "LmCompatibiltyLevel" to "1"
How to make a distributable "reg" file
In a text editor, enter the following:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa]
"LmCompatibilityLevel"=dword:00000001
Save the file with a ".reg" extension. This file can be distributed to any Vista client that is having problems connecting to Netware.

Note, Novell cannot offer support for making these changes to a Windows Vista client. While these settings have been tested by Novell, Microsoft will have to support any problems that might arise as a result. Windows Servers will have to be set to allow NTLMv1 otherwise the Vista clients may not be allowed to connect.

Additional Information

Windows Vista is supported by Microsoft. If you have difficulty applying this change, please contact Microsoft.