Tridion error with login: search filter is invalid.

Question

I have installed Tridion 2011 sp1 and it is working well with administrator account, I have imported some users from Active Directory and when I try to login from any account other than administrator, it throws this error

The search filter is invalid.
Unable to Initialize TDSE object.
System.DirectoryServices.Protocols.LdapConnection.SendRequest(DirectoryRequest,TimeSpan)
System.DirectoryServices.Protocols.LdapConnection.SendRequest(DirectoryRequest) 
Tridion.Security.DirectoryService.GetUserClaims(DirectoryServiceUser)
Tridion.ContentManager.Security.AuthorizationManager.LoadAccessToken(String,String)
Tridion.ContentManager.Session..ctor(String,String,UserContext)
Tridion.ContentManager.BLFacade.SystemFacade.InitializeUserContext(UserContext,String,String)
UtilitiesTDS.GetUserContext TDSE.Initialize

Answer 1

Are you using GroupSync? It seems like you are. Is your admin user also from AD? Looking only at exception it seems like you have specified wrong search query in the properties of you Group. Basically LDAP connection seems to be correct, but the path defined on the user group is not correct. You can verify it by logging in as admin, and checking the properties of the group. There's a "Test" button to verify you path.

UPDATE Ok, so first check if you can connect to LDAP server at all. For this click New User and select your directory service. You should be able to browse users, like this:

Now, if you can see users - check your search query. For this edit any group, switch to Memebers tab, click Add to add directory service groups, paste your query and click Preview, like this:

If you can see users, it means that LDAP connection is fine and users listed here should be able to Log in into Tridion.