Need network connection to authenticate network credentials at login

At this point its difficult to ascertain whether its the airpot on your MBP or your wireless setup at the office or the network login program. The fact that it doesnt connect even with a wire isnt any help either. Is this machine setup ONLY to be used at work? That is, can you take to a cafe to see if you get a wireless connection? Could you check with the person who set this up in the first place?

'A login only when you have a persistent connection is a limitation of overall design, windows and osx alike' ,,, Yes, that is accurate. You're presuming that after the first login, it will connect. Not so if the wireless networks drops. Most wireless issues on this Community is a testament to that. If you disconnect the wire, i.e. you basically dont have the Internet, you will be automatically logged out within a specific period of time because THATS how network security is built. At least, mostly. Hopefully, someone can guide you in this. But with the limited information available, there's no much that I can say. Your best bet is to fix this issue with the person who has setup your network.

You never did mention until now that you were the person who setup the network. Since that is the case, why not isolate what and where exactly is the problem? Is it the hardware? The software? Or the networking aspect? I'd suggest that you bring up your issue with some of the top participants in the MBP community.

My suggestion in case of a problem remains the same as in the post just above, 'Why not isolate what and where exactly is the problem? Is it the hardware? The software? Or the networking aspect?' After that if there is still an issue, then its best to provide a feedback to Apple either as a problem or as an enhancement. And of course the support community where they may be someone who could provide you with an answer that works.

In BigJeffy's case, I suggested that he bring up his issue with some of the top contributors. But as you can see, he still hasnt done that (at least in the MBP community). If he has been successful and had said so here, you as well as others in the same predicament would have benefited from the knowledge shared. Which is the reason this community exists.

My suggestion is for you to do what you think is the best for you given what you know. If that means 'banning' all external Ethernet systems, then so be it.

Are you saying that both your MBP's dont find the wireless network at all at work? Are you connected directly to the router at work wirelessly (before the problem)? Have you taken it elsewhere to see whether you have the same issues?

Lets take the 2 issues separately. When you click the WiFi icon on the top of the screen, what do you see? Do you see 'Looking for Networks ...'? Do you see your own network? Can you then join it if you select it? Lets keep the wired option for after we resolve the wireless option ...

Actually, I can't say a thing at this point because of the way your MBP is setup. And a login only when you have a persistent wireless connect is daft (my opinion only).

Well i think I have the same setup as BigJeffy and I setup a macbook air using 1. usb ethernet, 2. thunderbolt ethernet and 3. wifi to binded to AD for authentication.

I have to use a local account to get the mac booted, then after it is booted I can logoff and THEN use any of the 3 methods listed above and authenticate to our AD domain, it even creates a mobile account. But then on next restart it wont show me the AD authenticated accounts. Only the local accounts. But again after I logon with the Local account and logoff then and only then the AD authenticated accounts show up to be used.

So the similarity is how do we get the mac to reconize that there are available network resources such as usb eithernet or thunderbolt ethernet to use to authenticate.

The sad thing is we may have to ban all non-ethernet built in macs if we can not get this to play well. We have imacs and mac-minis that authenticate just fine on boot up. Just the external ethernet systems have the issues.

As much as I want to ban macs in my AD enviroment I know Im stuck with them logging on without AD credentials as a home toy and not a business laptop. I mean if we can just order the addon ethernet usb or thunderbolt kits then we would do that for our staff when they purchase these macbook airs.

To test the wifi network adapters that would require going off campus to a coffee shop as you suggested would not get me authenticated to my AD as I would need a VPN to go thru to get to my AD.

Using the Ethernet adapters of thunderbolt/usb wont work since there is no AD to authenticate against. Both adapters work fine once the OS loads the drivers to activate the devices. But the OS never attempts to use them prior to logon.

So if there is some way to get the wifi to work prior to logon or let me choose settings but the wifi is grayed out as a tease to say it is there but it is not configurable.

If there is some way to get the OS to load the Ethernet drivers prior to logon that would resolve the issue.

Hardware works after logon so they are not broken or malfunctioning.. just the OS doesn't interact with them during POST.or until after Logon.

So basically this is an Apple problem of not loading external perphierlals prior to logon when they are most needed in our case.