NTLM Pre-authentication is an optimization, it allows Internet Explorer to send the initial NTLM handshake proactively if the same server has already challenged Internet Explorer for NTLM authentication in the present browsing session. NTLM Pre-authentication is performed in every new TCP connection established with the server.
When a POST request is being sent in a new TCP connection, Internet Explorer will perform NTLM Pre-authentication and exclude the POST request payload and content length, because they aren't required to complete NTLM authentication successfully. At this point, if the server doesn’t challenge Internet Explorer for authentication but instead expects the POST request payload to be delivered, the underlying web application may not work as expected.
When the server challenges Internet Explorer for authentication, disabling NTLM Pre-authentication won't affect the Internet Explorer’s ability to authenticate with NTLM.