How to get Mac's to work on a Windows Domain network

If you have ever tried to get an Apple Mac to work on a Windows 2003 Server domain network you have probably failed. I searched high and low for a fix to the problem relating to authentication. I have since found a solution that was posted in the Australian PC Authority mag in July 2007page 98.

The steps to get Mac's to work on the domain network are as follows.
1 On the domain controller click on 'Start' -> 'Administrative Tools'
2 Click on 'Domain Controller Security Policy'
3 Open 'Local Policies' -> 'Security Options' on the left hand side
4 Scroll down to 'Microsoft network server: Digitally sign communications (always)'
5 Open it up and change the 'Enabled' to 'Disabled'
6 Close the applications
7 Click 'Start' -> 'Run' or 'Windows-Key + R'
8 Type 'gpupdate' and click 'Ok' or press 'Enter.

The changes will should affect as soon as the 'gpupdate' has completed and you should now be able to see the shares on the domain controller and have access to the files stored on it.
If it does not work you might have to stop and start the 'server' service, but be careful as network traffic will be affected:
net stop server
net start server

There is also a KB from Microsoft explaining the option
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823659