Configure NPS to Use the Security Accounts Manager Database
Applies To: Windows Server 2008
Configure NPS to use the SAM database
When you install Network Policy Server (NPS) as a member server in an Active Directory® domain, it is configured by default to use the Active Directory user accounts database to authenticate and authorize connection requests.
In some cases, you might want to use the local Security Accounts Manager (SAM) database instead of the Active Directory user accounts database for the authentication and authorization of connection requests.
If the NPS server is not joined to a domain, NPS uses the SAM database by default.
Note
The SAM database is also called Local Users and Groups. You can manage user accounts for Local Users and Groups by using the Computer Management console on the local computer. To open Computer Management, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Computer Management.
To configure a domain-member NPS server to use the SAM database on the local computer, configure the following registry key with the name of the local computer:
System\CurrentControlSet\Services\RasMan\PPP\ControlProtocols\BuiltIn\DefaultDomain
For example, if the name of your NPS server is NPS-01, configure the default domain registry key with the string value NPS-01.
Warning
Incorrectly editing the registry can severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on the computer.