Windows 7 Client fails on share authentication

[Muldune]

Does anybody have any clues as to why the ReadyNAS Remote on Windows 7 will not authenticate with the NAS? Is there a bug with the Leaf Network adapter? See below for setup and testing performed.

ReadyNAS: 1100, 4.1.8 firmware, 1.0.9.78 ReadyNAS Remote
Clients: Windows XP and Windows 7, both with 1.6.5.16 ReadyNAS Remote Clients (firewall and anti-virus disabled)
Internet Access: Office LAN via MPLS; Ext WiFi Hotspot via T-Mobile

Setup: ReadyNAS 1100 on LAN behind MPLS. Security mode set to AD/Domain (MS 2003 Small Business Ed.) ReadyNAS Remote port forwarding is configured (Public IP forwarding TCP 6300 to LAN IP)

Std LAN Test:
Both clients on the LAN can access and authenticate shares via Explorer and map shares to drives.

ReadyNAS Remote TEST:
Windows XP: ReadyNAS icon immediately available; when accessed, prompted for Share authentication and then presented with share list. works right out of the box on the LAN and on Ext. WiFi; no errors or issues.
Windows 7: ReadyNAS icon takes a long time to show up. Receive notification "You are using a relayed connection to the following ReadyNAS device: [devicename]". Able to click on ReadyNAS icon to access shares but Share authentication will not accept my login.

Additonal info: set up a test share with default read/write plus guest access and created a test user. Still unable to access shares with Windows 7 client. Have reinstalled client and went through the Troubleshooter guide. Verified the config of the Leaf adapter. One caveat: My client IP is out of the documented range (5.171.x.x) on both machines but it doesn't seem to matter on the XP client.

Any info or assistance would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Muldune]

SOLVED!!!

After a day of research it finally dawned on me what the problem was...

It's a mismatch in security types related to the differences between SMB protocols that the ReadyNAS 1100 (SMB 1.0) and Windows 7 (SMB 2.1) uses.

SMB 2.1 uses NTLMv2
SMB 1, depending on implementation, uses LanMan or NTLM

The solution is to set the local security policy on my Windows 7 client to accomodate the older protocols.

Here is where you go to fix this...

Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Local Security Policy

When the Local Security Policy window appears, navigate to the following...

Local Policies>Security Options>Network security:LAN Manager authentication level

My level was not defined and I'm assuming from the problems I was having that it was defaulting to NTLMv2. I changed my setting to the following...

Send LM & NTLM- use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated

No reboot is required. I started up ReadyNAS Remote and have to wait a bit for everything to get connected. Once it did, I signed in and it worked on the first try. I have access to all my shares just like I do on my XP box (which by the way ustilizes SMB 1 protocol which is why it worked "out of the box").

If you are having any issues connecting a Windows Vista, Window 7, or Server 2008 clients to your ReadyNAS, you should investigate to see if this is your problem. All of them use SMB 2.0 or 2.1 and unless Netgear releases a firmware update to utilize Samba 3.5 or higher, your ReadyNas will be using SMB 1.

Regards,
Muldune