I work internal IT for a big retail company. With everything going on lately, we’ve transitioned to mostly work-from-home for all our corporate users.
User: “I have a laptop, but I need to learn a new software, so I got another laptop and I can’t sign in.”
Me: “Is it a [Company] laptop or a personal one? And is this a Windows or a Mac?”
User: “It’s the laptop; I think it’s Windows.”
Me: “How did you get this laptop? Did it come from asset management?”
User: “Um, no. It came from a coworker.”
Me: “Okay, unfortunately, you won’t be able to sign on from home the first time. You’ll need to get it on the network so it can talk to your account. I know some of the corporate offices are closed, so if you can get to one of the stores, that’ll work, too.”
User: “I have my manager’s approval to use this.”
Me: “I understand that, but if the computer isn’t on the network then it can’t grab your account information.”
User: “Would it change if my manager talked to that asset whatever team?”
Me: “Unfortunately, not really. Even if they said this situation was one where they could make the change to allow the first-time login from home, they’d still need to get it on the network in order to update the account.”
User: “Are you sure? My manager said I could use it.”
Me: “I understand that; however, it still needs to talk to the network to verify your account.”
User: “But the coworker who gave this to me should still be able to sign in, right?”
Me: “As long as they know the most recent password that this workstation cached. However, they shouldn’t be sharing their credentials with you.”
User: “Are you sure I have to get it to the store?”
Me: “Yes.”
User: *Sighs* “Fine, thanks. Bye.”
