True Image – Machine cannot log into domain

I’ve used true image for testing packages etc then reverting back to a standard image for further testing. But there can be a problem if the machine updates it domain password then you revert back to the original image. It will not let you logon to the domain if the passwords don’t match.

The way to prevent this is to disable password update so that hte machine does not change its password as per the domain policy.

So if a computer is turned off for three months nothing expires. When the computer starts up, it will notice that its password is older than 30 days and will initiate action to change it. The Netlogon service on the client computer is responsible for doing this. This is only applicable if the machine is turned off for such a long time.

http://blogs.technet.com/askds/archive/2009/02/13/machine-account-password-process.aspx

Warning If you disable machine account password changes, there are security risks because the security channel is used for pass-through authentication. If someone discovers a password, he or she can potentially perform pass-through authentication to the domain controller.

Here is the article that talks about disabling automatic machine account password change.

Key = HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetLogon\Parameters
Value = DisablePasswordChange REG_DWORD
Default = 0

Changing this key to 1 will disable password change for this PC. Then you can safely image the machine without having to worry about the machine changing its password with the domain controller.