When Access Problems Loom

User accounts govern who can access a computer system and at what level of access that person enjoys. Sometimes, though, users run into problems that prevent the normal operation of the logon process.

Most logon problems center on an incorrectly typed password. Therefore, users should take the time to type their passwords correctly. This is good advice only if their accounts haven't been locked out because of failed logon attempts. If your user's account is locked out, it must be re-enabled. This can occur in one of two ways. If the lockout policy is set with a duration, you need to only wait until the time expires and try again. If the lockout policy requires administrative intervention, you have to reset that user's account.

When a user can't log on or communication with the network seems sporadic, check the following:

Make sure that the network interface card (NIC) and other physical network connections are solid.
On any Windows system - Windows NT Workstation, Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, or Windows Server 2003 - you must ensure that the computer is a member of the domain to log on to the domain with an account listed in Active Directory to access network resources.
If using the Internet Protocol (IP) and a statically assigned IP address, check the configuration settings to ensure that the computer is using the correct IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway and be sure that it has the proper DNS settings for the network.
If your network employs Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to assign IP settings from a small pool to a larger group of computers, you may be stuck as the last person standing when the music stops and all available connection addresses are in use. You can verify whether this would have happened by going to a command prompt, typing IPCONFIG/ALL, and reviewing the settings. If you have an IP address that falls in the 169.254.0.1 through 169.254.255.254 Automatic Private Internet Protocol Address (APIPA) range, it's possible that the DHCP server ran out of a available addresses to assign or your system had trouble communicating with the DHCP server.

If users can log on but can't access all the resources that they think they should be able to access, you need to verify several items:

Group memberships
Physical network connections to resource hosts (that is, check that a server's network cable isn't disconnected)
Presence of group policies restricting the user's action

If everything we mention checks out, you may have a fairly esoteric problem. Consult a Microsoft resource (online or through TechNet) to search for a solution. Yeah, that's weak advice, but it's the most valuable thing we can tell you. The Microsoft information database is expansive - if someone else has had the same problem, you can probably find information posted about its resolution.