After deploying new VMs, the systems administrator notices it is not possible to connect to them using network credentials; however, local accounts work. After logging in, the administrator notices…

While directory services environments rely on time synchronization, stating they 'require the use of NTP servers' doesn't directly explain *why* network credentials fail; a time synchronization *issue* is the more direct cause of the observed symptom.

Insufficient licensing would typically prevent the VM from operating fully or receiving updates, but it doesn't directly cause network credential authentication to fail while local accounts work.

A directory services outage would likely prevent local accounts from working if they are domain accounts cached locally, or prevent any domain-related activity. However, the specific clue about unset NTP servers points more directly to time synchronization as the issue rather than a general outage.

Network authentication protocols like Kerberos, commonly used with network credentials in directory services environments, are highly sensitive to time synchronization. If NTP servers are not set, the VMs' clocks can drift, causing authentication failures with domain controllers while local accounts remain unaffected.