forgive me if this is common knowledge, but i found my configuration error which caused the issue, and thought to post it as it might help someone. quick background: samba server :: security = user logon script = hklocal.bat logon path = \\%L\%U\windir logon drive = u:\ logon home = \\%L\%U\windir workgroup = hklocal.net hklocal.bat :: @echo off net time \\gateway /set /yes net use m: /home /yes net use n: \\gateway\rambear /yes net use o: \\gateway\warthog /yes on a succesfully joined-to-domain 2k(sp2) machine, a login to the hklocal.net domain would reboot the system ( nearly instantly ) after everyone agreed that the password for the user i was putting in was cool. changing the above line to read: logon drive = u: utterly fixed the problem. ( and U: is successfully mapped to unixland://home/user/windir ; M: is successfully mapped to unixland://home/user ) that extra slash = very bad. hope this can help someone. jared.