Accessing OWA with "public" computer

[candyman200]

I have a GPO to limit PCs in the group to log on ONLY as "specialuser" by setting "Log on Locally" to a specific list of users/groups. This was done to restrict most users from logging in to what I'm calling a kiosk machine.

A normal user logs in to the PC as "specialuser" everything is OK except when trying they try to use OWA. They enter their credentials (user has valid mailbox) and the login fails. If I close the login window, then OWA shows a connection failure but if I refresh (F5) the user's email shows up as normal.

1) "Specialuser" does not have an mailbox.
2) Normal user has a valid mailbox.
3) Admin group users (myself) CAN access OWA successfully.

The intent is to restrict the PC to ONLY using the "specialuser" logon provide specail applications and email access via OWA.

 

[markdmac]

How are your users accessing OWA?

Your users can specify their mailbox using the URL

http://servername/exchange/username

If they are just going to the root OWA page

http://servername/exchange

then make sure they are using the context of domainname\username when logging in.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

 

[candyman200]

Thanks for the reply Mark.

I've tried both with/without domainname and it doesn't work. If I log on the PC as "specialuser" then go in to OWA (I have domain admin rights) with my username/pw it works OK. If I log on the PC as a local admin (included in the GPO) and use OWA as a normal user it fails, but after I close the login window and get the HTTP failure in OWA I can refresh and viola ... MAIL. It looks like there's two times credentials are being passed. I've toyed around with security settings in IE but it didn't help.

Still trying to log in only as "specialuser" and allow anyone to get their mail by OWA.

Thanks again.

*** Fix what's broken, whether it's a machine or a process. People don't need to be burdened by problems that could be corrected.

 

[markdmac]

And what about when you try the URL

http://servername/exchange/username?

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

 

[candyman200]

Thanks for everyone who scratched their head on this question. My solution was to blow away the IE favorite and shortcut on the desktop, then recreate the IE favorite and shortcut and everything worked as advertised.

Must have been some kind of tick in the authentication - but it's all good now.

Thanks again.

*** Fix what's broken, whether it's a machine or a process. People don't need to be burdened by problems that could be corrected.