802.1x Authentication Failure After Upgrade To Windows 11

Question

Hello,

We are currently upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11 and all of our PCs return 802.1x authentication failure with our Network Access Control server after Windows 11 upgrade is successfully done.

Basically every Windows 10 computer that is connecting to our network on an dot1x auth configured network port and it's running fine, after Windows 11 is deployed the users do not have access to our network unless we disable dot1x authentication on the network port, do a gpupdate /force then log off the user, log him back and activate dot1x on the network port.

This is creating huge problems for us so is there any workaround and why does Windows 11 behaves like the PC was never authenticated before? We are doing an upgrade not a CLEAN installation.

Thank you.

Answer 1

I'm so sorry that you are experiencing this issue. Don't worry, I'll do everything I can to help you.

1. GPO Verification:

• Verify GPO Enforcement: Ensure that the GPO that applies the 802.1X settings is linked to the correct OU and is enabled.
• GPO Filter: Verify that the GPO filters are correctly targeting the affected computers.
• GPO Processing: Use gpresult /r to verify GPO processing on the affected machines.
• GPO Update: Force GPO update using gpupdate /force.

2. Network Adapter and Profile Migration:

Manual Profile Import: Try to manually import the exported profile using *

example : netsh lan add profile filename="yourprofile.xml" interface="Ethernet"*

• Make sure the XML was exported from a known working machine using:

netsh lan export profile folder=c:\path\to\folder

3. Create a new user profile and check if the 802.1X settings persist. Check if the user profile is loading correctly using userinit.log.
4. Manually check the log for 802.1X related settings (e.g. HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Network\Connections) and compare them to a working machine.
5. Try resetting the network adapter using netsh winsock reset and netsh int ip reset.

• Disable and re-enable the network adapter.
• Verify that the 802.1X properties are set correctly in the network adapter configuration.

6. If you use Group Policy Preferences, consider converting the settings to standard GPO settings.

• Use gpresult /r to verify GPO processing and identify any errors.

Additional considerations:

• Check if any third-party software is interfering with the 802.1X settings.
• There may be a delay in applying GPOs after the upgrade. Wait for some time before checking the settings again.
• Create a new Windows 11 virtual machine and apply the same GPO to isolate the issue.