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I'm running into issues with authentication and mapped network drives across a VPN tunnel. Namely error messages related to not being able to find a domain controller. I suspect this is somehow related to WINS, as DNS lookups seem to be working correctly. In trying to understand the underlying issue, I've across something curious.

In system information (msinfo32.exe) a username shows up in two formats:

  1. NETBIOSDOMAIN\My Name under startup programs
  2. DNSDOMAIN.COM\My Name under Network Connections

What is the difference between these usernames? And how might that relate to stored credentials for the mapped drives, or name resolution for the domain controller?

Justin
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    What is the difference between these usernames. None. I suspect this is somehow related to WINS. WINS hasn't been needed for 18 years. – Greg Askew Jan 18 '19 at 17:28
  • I suspect this is somehow related to WINS - It's not. DNS lookups seem to be working correctly - Seem to be? I'd verify that DNS is actually working properly. "Seem to be" doesn't inspire much confidence. – joeqwerty Jan 18 '19 at 17:41
  • DNS was confimred by successful NSLookup for the domain controller currently listed in the %logonserver% enviroment variable, as well as other resources. – Justin Jan 21 '19 at 16:50
  • And this only happens with mapped drives? Can you access other paths? Are those paths from a file server, or are they DFS paths? Have you checked the Windows logs for more errors? – curropar Jan 25 '19 at 15:24
  • There is no techical difference in DOMAIN\user and DOMAIN.COM\user. Technically even user@domain.com ("UPN") is the same. – bjoster Jan 25 '19 at 17:09
  • I just found this answer - https://serverfault.com/a/371390/505983 seems to clarify the usernames. – Justin Jan 29 '19 at 17:10

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