I have a machine that boots up and will log on to the network and I can access all my files OK, but it seems to miss the step “Preparing network connections” during the boot up sequence.
Any idea why only this machine does this that I’ve seen and if there are possible implications because of it?
you don’t imply what sort of network
If your running off a server like win server 2003 / 2008 blah blah
It maybe the case of setting the machine to be on a domain
that you would do via control panel / system / computer name tab / then faff around in that.
It is just a client connecting to a domain, no different to others on the same domain on a Win 2003 server. I just spotted that the step was missing, when I booted up this machine and another side by side. They are both built the same from the same image, same spec machine, OS, etc., same domain, same service pack and patch level. It’s just missing this one step during the boot up sequence, but as I say, connects and so far functions OK.
It’s weird 
Could just be one is much faster resolving than the other
do a … ipconfig /all on both
If they both have there primary & secondary DNS the same not much else I can say.
You do want to make sure machines are not Hard set to an IP and Hard set to DNS
Ideally you want your DNS server primary & secondary to match your server.
If you have a machine getting something else eg your internet ip instead that could be a reason for a machine being slow to resolve and sitting on the preparing network connection dialogue.
I’ll give it a try when back in work. Cheers!!