The issue is that users apparently cannot connect to a 10.2.0.4 database instance (on Windows 2003) with native database userid/password if the following are all TRUE 1) Client version does not exactly match database version (for instance, client is 10.2.0.1), AND 2) NTS is enabled in SQLNET.ORA, AND 3) User's Active Directory account is not in the "Users" group on the DBMS host Failure usually comes with a ORA-12631 error. I think many people would not observe this because, by default, a Windows server's local "Users" group contains the domain "Domain Users" group. I guess I am looking for others to validate or refute my theory. Thanks Martin -------------------------------------------- Martin Herbener 502 564 2020 ext 254 Office of Education Technology Kentucky Department of Education From: Jared Still [mailto:jkstill@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 11:57 AM To: Herbener, Martin - KETS Engineering and Management Cc: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: User permissions/rights on DBMS host when using NTS On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 7:28 AM, Herbener, Martin - KETS Engineering and Management <Martin.Herbener@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Those of you using NTS (Windows OS authentication) - have you found that the end users' Windows accounts need some level of permissions/user rights on the DBMS host? Perhaps if you explained the issue you are experiencing someone here can help. OS authentication does not require any rights on the server if the authentication is network based - AD, Kerboros, ... If the authentication must actually take place on the server, then a user account will be needed, at least it works that way on linux/unix. So the answer is "It depends" :) Jared Still Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist Oracle Blog: http://jkstill.blogspot.com Home Page: http://jaredstill.com