Microsoft KB Archive/314898

= Logon Behavior of a User Account with an Appended Dollar Sign =

PSS ID Number: 314898

Article Last Modified on 10/10/2003

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Premium Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q314898



SYMPTOMS
When a user account name with a dollar sign ($) appended to it exists in the Active Directory (such as &quot;testuser$&quot;), a logon attempt with the account succeeds even if the dollar sign is not appended (&quot;testuser&quot;). The exception to this rule is the case where two user accounts exist as &quot;testuser&quot; and &quot;testuser$&quot;. In that case, the logon attempt without the dollar sign appended only succeed for the actual &quot;testuser&quot; account.



CAUSE
This behavior occurs because Kerberos and other authentication packages automatically retry logon attempts when the supplied user name is not found. On the retry, the dollar sign is appended to verify whether or not the logon attempt is referencing a computer account. In Windows domains, computer account names are appended with the dollar sign to differentiate them from user accounts. However, there is no rule prohibiting user names from containing the dollar sign character.



STATUS
This behavior is by design.

Keywords: kbenv kbnetwork kbprb KB314898

Technology: kbSBServ2003Pre kbSBServ2003Search kbSBServ2003St kbSBServSearch kbwin2000Search kbwin2000Serv kbwin2000ServSearch kbWinServ2003Search kbWinServ2003St

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