Slower logins after adding Active Directory authentication to Novell Client workstations

Users observed slower logins when XP workstations were configured for Active Directory authentication in addition to the Novell Client login.

With the default provider order on XP, name resolution for Active Directory resources will be sent out through both Novell and Microsoft providers.  Packet traces show the workstation trying to resolve AD servers via SLP and NDS connections.  The workstation will also make bindery connections on NDS servers in an attempt to resolve these server addresses.

If there are enough workstations with this configuration, NDS servers may suffer high utilization.

This behavior is resolved by changing the following reg entry:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider]


The default entries are:
(your workstation my differ depending on the products you have installed)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\HwOrder]
"ProviderOrder"="NetwareWorkstation,SnacNp,RDPNP,LanmanWorkstation,WebClient"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order]
"ProviderOrder"="NetwareWorkstation,SnacNp,RDPNP,LanmanWorkstation,WebClient"


Change them to show as follows:
(The 1st entry should be LanmanWorkstation)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\HwOrder]
"ProviderOrder"="LanmanWorkstation,NetwareWorkstation,RDPNP,SnacNp,WebClient"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order]
"ProviderOrder"="LanmanWorkstation,NetwareWorkstation,RDPNP,SnacNp,WebClient"


After this is set, the workstation must be rebooted. 

The change in provider order stops the unwanted name resolution attempts against SLP and NDS.