Authentication fails when testing LDAP Admin account

I am stuck at the last step of the setup stage; Here are some details:

Environment: Windows Server 2008 r2, Active Directory, SQL server Express.

LDAP authentication tests successfully;

Testing “User Mapping” successfully brings up random users from my AD, so Openfire is clearly able to communicate to it;

group mapping i’ve left at default and it’s throwing an error, but I don’t believe I need this configured right now;

When adding an Administrator, Openfire successfully recognizes the active directory account and adds it as Administrator, HOWEVER, when using the Test function to test the credentials, authentication fails with “Password is incorrect” even though it is. If i go further, set up completes and I am stuck at the admin console login page.

What am I missing?!

I also tried versions 4.0.4 and 3.10.3, same issue. I must be doing something wrong with the LDAP configuration… Any help is appreciated.