Laptop computer on a domain with MS Windows Server 2003 - how do I work when not connected to the server?

Question

We just installed our first server in our office, with MS Windows Server 2003. We created a domain and each of our computers is now set up as a member of the domain. Previously we were set up as a peer-to-peer Workgroup. I have a laptop, so when I work in the office I login to the domain. But when I'm working on my laptop out of the office, I'm not able to connect to the domain, as I'm not connected to the network. So, how do I login to my laptop when I'm not connected to the domain? I tried yesterday, but it wouldn't let me login with my domain user name & password. So then I logged in to the local computer using the username and password I previously used for my workgroup. This worked, but the problem is that now I do not have access to the files and documents that are stored in my domain account. I'm sure there must be a clean way to work with the laptop in standalone mode. Can someone tell me the best way to do this?

Thank you for your advice.

-Steven

Answer 1

First, there's a mistake in your domain configuration. Your local computer should cache your domain credentials for days, allowing you to log on as the domain user even when not connected to the network. (I've seen this most often when users or computers are added to a 2003 small business server without running the wizard. Even done "correctly" in active directory, if you don't run the wizards, you'll have multiple wierd network/profile issues). Improper group policy settings and not joining the laptop to the domain can also create this problem. Fix the cache issue so your domain credentials are cached on your local machine. This is the "clean" way you're looking for.

Second, assuming your domain documents are physically stored on the local machine (not being redirected to the server), you can still access them with a local user account. They'll be located in the domain user's folder under "documents and settings". If your local computer account is an administrator, you should be able to open these files. If not, when logged on to the domain, change the security settings on the domain user account to allow full control to your local user account. This is not as clean a fix, but it will allow you to access the data.

Third, if your folders are being redirected to the server on the domain, make sure that a local copy is also cached on your laptop, and set to sychronize at login/logoff when you're on the domain.

Answer 2

We have our domain set up much like this. The best thing you can do is to cache local accounts on the laptop, perhaps using folder redirection, and synchronize these with your server. That way, local copies of files will be stored on the laptop, and synchronized with the server folders when logging on/off. When you are not connected to the domain, you can alter the files, and when you do log back on or off again, you can have them synchronize the network version to update them.

The other thing you can try is setting up VPN access to your network. Run a terminal services server and get client access licenses, and you can remote desktop into your network that way.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Your computer should cache the information needed to logon to the domain by default. If its not doing this you should contact the person that set up your network because you should always be able to log on to the domain even if your not physically in the office where the domain is.