Multiple Login Challenges for PWA 2003

[SWE in OH]

We are using MS Project Server 2003, Project Web Access, and Project Pro 2003.
After working fine for an extended time, several users are reporting that
they are being challenged multiple times for Username and Password when
connecting to PWA. Even if you enter valid credentials, you get challenged
multiple times before it fails and closes. There is no error code or message.

PWA worked a couple of days ago, and now not. Dozens of other users are not
experiencing this problem. Have tried to compare with a working PC, but not
seeing anything different.

Users are on managed workststions with a standard image. Project Pro is
installed from a common install image. Users have valid accounts in Project
Server (which is why they were able to access the system previously).

Any ideas why this would suddenly affect about 5 users and no one else?
Are there any log files that might give a clue as to why they are being
challenged?

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

Any chance that these users had to update their credentials recently by
password change? If so, you could look at stored passwords in the system or
IE to make sure that the system isn't sending the incorrect credentials
(seems to be the most likely explanation) and have the users try logging
into other machines with their credentials to determine whether the problem
is machine or user specific to help narrow down the possibilities.

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Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
Project Server Training: http://www.projectservertraining.com
Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com
Project Server Help Blog: http://www.projectserverhelp.com

 

[SWE in OH]

I will have to investigate if the clients changed their passwords before
experiencing the problems. I know one client had someone else login to their
machine and did NOT get challenged. That suggested a profile problem, but
resetting the user's profile did not resolve the challenges. I am also
checking with our network admins whether an overall change from roaming
profiles to local profiles about 5 weeks ago may be having some residual
effects on apps.

 

[SWE in OH]

More follow-up, when MS Project Server was first installed several years ago,
we had problems with challenges that were attributed to domain trusts between
the application server, the database server and the AD server. The initial
"fix" was the "Enable untrusted intranet zone access..." registry entry.
Later, a fix was received so that this override entry was no longer needed.
I compared these sets of registry settings for myself (not challenged) with
someone reporting the problem, and we match. Like I said, more info, but no
real leads.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz]

I'm not certain what you mean by "resetting the user's profile." Try
re-creating it if you can't find the source of the bad credentials.

--
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Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
Project Server Training: http://www.projectservertraining.com
Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com
Project Server Help Blog: http://www.projectserverhelp.com

 

[Jonathan Sofer [MVP]]

My guess is that your user's Discussion Explorer Bar was turned on
automatically or on purpose on their IE client.

Make sure "Discussions" isn't turned on at the bottom left of their I.E. You
can turn it off under View>Explorer Bar>Discuss or if you are using the
later version of I.E. you can get to it from Tools>Tool Bars>Explorer
Bar>Discuss

Hope this helps,

Jonathan Sofer

 

[SWE in OH]

Congratulations! You are the winner of the Needle in the Haystack Award!

That resolved the problem and saved me hours of comparing registry entries
and profiles between user/machine combinations that worked with those that
didn't.
No one even noticed that toolbar turned on, let alone ever used it.

 

[Jonathan Sofer [MVP]]

Yes, it is one of those completely random features that nobody seems to use
and can sometimes get turned on when new software or updates are installed
on a users machine. And the fact that it causes this issue is even more
random.

It's one of those things I remembered seeing a long time ago at a client
site that I managed to remember simply because it was so strange.

Glad it worked out for you.

Jonathan Sofer