How to pre-populate the username field, regardless of the last user who logged in

  • 7013447
  • 14-Oct-2013
  • 01-Aug-2018

Environment

Novell Client 2 SP3 for Windows (IR4)
Windows 7
Windows 8
Windows 2008 R2
Window 2012

Situation

By default, the Novell Client populates the login username with the username of the last user who logged on to the machine.  It is also possible, through the Novell Client "Last Logged On User" setting (or the Microsoft "DontDisplayLastUserName" policy, which is the same thing) to always display a blank username, instead of the last logged on user.
 
In some environments, neither of these options are desirable, and instead having a specific username always come up as the default username is desired.  For example, a school may have a single username for all students, such as "student." As long as a student always logs in there no problem. But if a teacher logs in, the next student that logs in will be faced with the Credential Provider username field populated with the teacher's username.

Resolution

Beginning with Novell Client 2 SP3 for Windows (IR4), it is possible to configure the Novell Client such that a pre-defined username will be used to populate the "Username:" field when logging in. Beginning with Novell Client 2 SP4 for Windows, this functionality is exposed in the Novell Client Properties "Advanced Login" tab. The available related settings are:
  • Last Logged On user - Specifies whether the last logged on user is displayed along with the Novell Logon when logging on to the computer.
  • Last Logged On User Default User - If specified, forces the "Last Logged On User" presented by Novell Client to always be the user specified, regardless of which other user may have actually logged on last.  When not specified, the default behavior is to remember whichever user had previously logged on.
  • Last Logged On User Default Profile - If specified, indicates which Novell Client Login Profile should be used in conjunction with the "Last Logged On User Default User".  When not specified, the default behavior is to use whichever Novell Client Login Profile was previously selected for the user, if more than one Novell Client Login Profile is available.  For example, when configuring a specific "Last Logged On User Default User" that should always be shown by default, it may be desirable to configure "Last Logged On User Default Profile" as "Default" (or a different Novell Client Login Profile name that has been created) so that a specific Novell Client Login Profile will always be selected by default, too.

Additional Information

The optional ForceLastUserNameLoginProfile policy, to specify a specific Novell Client login profile that should also be selected by default, must specify a Novell Client login profile which already exists.  Specifying an arbitrary or new login profile name in the ForceLastUserNameLoginProfile policy will not cause a profile by that name to be created.  The Novell Client login profile specified in the optional ForceLastUserNameLoginProfile policy must be one the user could have selected during login already, same as when performing an interactive login without ForceLastUserName active.