Intermittent network errors - NT/2000 server is out of licences

Question

Shares and network resources are not accessible from workstations.

Symptoms

• The login script not running,
• The home directory not being mapped at logon,
• Policies not being applied correctly,
• Ranger not starting correctly,
• Desktops and Start menus not appearing.

If your Windows NT or 2000 server is out of licences it is possible that you users will experience strange and intermittent network access errors when logging on.

Cause

This is caused by the server rejecting the request for a network resource from a workstation. This failure to access the network usually goes unnoticed by the workstation but may result in the problems above. Each time the server rejects a licence request it writes an entry in the Application Event Log.

Resolution

If a consistent problem is encountered, it can be tested by logging in as a user who is a member of the "Domain Admins" group, since license restrictions are not applied for Domain Admins.

Instructions

Check your server's Application Event Log for LicenseService entries:

Further information reveals:

To resolve this issue, use Control Panel Licensing to add more server client access licences:

Per Server Licensing: The number of client access licenses purchased is applied to a specific server. There is no restriction on who may use the server; the restriction is only on the number of clients that have simultaneous use of the server.

Per Seat Licensing: A client access license is purchased for each computer that obtains access to a server product. If you need to add an additional server for your licensed clients, you need to purchase a server license rather than more client licenses.

See Windows help or documentation for more information about licensing modes. Contact your Microsoft dealer for licensing information.