Disconnected Network Drive and Windows XP

[Skywanderer]

Hi All,
I have a windows based workgroup network running about
30 computers. I just added four new windows xp pro
systems to the network. Each machine has 19 networked
drives to a windows 2000 data server. On the new systems,
all the drives show up as "disconnected network Drive"
upon a boot of the computer. I can still click the drive
and access data, and then it is no longer a disconnected
network drive. However, I have network programs that use
the drives, and they cannot access the drive while it
is "disconnected". I have to click on the drive in
explorer, and then the program can access the drive. This
obviosly doesn't work well for me. How do I make the
drives show up as connected upon boot of the computer?
I have tried the registry setting on the server that
disables timeouts, that doesn't work. Any idea's?

 

[ZeroNine8]

Isn't there a checkbox when you set up network drives to "reconnect at login"? There is for me, though if this is checked or some other issues is causing your problems, well good luck with that.

 

[Skywanderer]

There is a checkbox when you map a drive to reconnect at login. That box was checked. It is some other issue unfortently.

I've also now noticed that occasionally when I look at the system, all the drives will be connected, but on next boot up, they are all disconnected again.

 

[Skywanderer]

bumpity bump

 

[Allanv]

are these drives mapped by hand or by a script?

i used to map drives by hand and they showed up as disconnected after a while so i used scripts in the profiles from active dir.

this solved the problem

try it and see

 

[Carp1812]

Could you please include instructions for writing such a script in the AD profiles. For the sake of this exercise, let's assume that I need to map the "Z" drive as the folder named "Share" on the server named "Host". Thanks much.

 

[Allanv]

open notepad and save it as logon.bat " you will need to change the file of type to All files and not notepad files"

then type

net use z: /delete
net use z: \\host\share

now the share folder must be shared as share if you get my drift.

then on the AD server open a command window and type net share logon and this will show you where the scripts need to be stored

once you have put it in the folder go to a users profile in AD and where it says logon script put logon.bat then apply ok

log out and back in to test.

Now the reason for the delete first is so that there are no conflicting shares, so it deletes the z: if its there then re-mappes it.

if ya need anymore help letme know

 

[Carp1812]

Much obliged

 

[Skywanderer]

Unfortently I can't use the net use command. The network drives all point to a share that has the & charactor in its name.(I didn't do it, before my time here Dos doesn't seem to be able to recognize that charactor.

 

[Skywanderer]

These drives do become active once they are accessed in windows. (i.e. if I click on it in explorer) Can anyone think of a way to automate the accessing of the drive in windows (accessing through a command prompt doesn't work)? One way I did was to create a shortcut to a bat file on one of the networked drives. The bat file simply runs a dir command and then closes. If I place the shortcut in the startup, it does work to connect the drive, but having 19 seperate bat files run when the computer starts up is rather messy, to say the least. If I can't get windows to connect the drives, can anyone think of anyway to automate it?

 

[horhey]

Unfortently I can't use the net use command. The network drives all point to a share that has the & charactor in its name.(I didn't do it, before my time here Dos doesn't seem to be able to recognize that charactor.

You can use the net use command to map a drive with the character "&" in the share name.
Example.
net use z: "\\host\share&"
Just put quotes around the share path and you should be all set.

 

[horhey]

The bat file simply runs a dir command and then closes. If I place the shortcut in the startup, it does work to connect the drive, but having 19 seperate bat files run when the computer starts up is rather messy, to say the least. If I can't get windows to connect the drives, can anyone think of anyway to automate it?

use one bat file on startup.
example for network drive x: y: z:
@echo off
x:
dir > NUL
y:
dir > NUL
z:
dir > NUL

the "> nul" hides the output
thats one simple way of doing it.

 

[Allanv]

ot just make the bat file have all the drives listed

EG

net use s: /delete
net use t: /delete
net use u: /delete
net use s: "\\host\share&"
net use t: "\\host\share&"
net use u: "\\host\share&"

etc etc etc etc till you have mapped all 19 drives

get my drift, only have 10 shared drives to map and i only use 1 bat file for all 10 drives

or recreate the share names like add some more if it suits you to. in sharing create a NEW share and give it a name you want, a shared folder can have many share names

 

[Allanv]

or loook here see if it helps


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;297684

 

[Skywanderer]

use one bat file on startup.
example for network drive x: y: z:
@echo off
x:
dir > NUL
y:
dir > NUL
z:
dir > NUL

the "> nul" hides the output
thats one simple way of doing it.

This option doesn't seem to work. The command window can't access a disconnected network drive. A shortcut in windows can, but not dos.

I think this is a server level problem, most likely caused because we added new systems. It isn't the timeout error referenced in the microsoft support article above, I already looked and did what that article suggested.

I may just use the net use command and have the computer map the drives on startup. It seems the cleanest solution for now.

 

[horhey]

Actually for the bat file all you need is.
Example for network drive x: y: z:

@echo off
X:
Y:
Z:

You can loose the x: dir > nul it is not necessary.
And that will connect to a network drive and make it active. But if there is a time out set it will disconnect after the time limit. Also if the software needs the drives active and you cannot resolve the time out issue just add a scheduled task and run it ever 10 min or whatever time you want. That should keep all of your network drives active.

 

[Skywanderer]

Originally posted by: horhey
Actually for the bat file all you need is.
Example for network drive x: y: z:

@echo off
X:
Y:
Z:

The problem here is that dos/the batch file/a command prompt doesn't see the drive since it is disconnected. While windows can access it, dos can't access it until it has been connected. I just get a "The system cannot find the drive specified" error. I think I may have to go with a remmapping everytime windows starts

 

[Skywanderer]

Imay have figured out why the network drives aren't reconnected upon reboot. It seems that sometimes, when the computers boot into windows, it takes a few seconds for it to connect to the network. I think it is in those few seconds that windows attempts to connect the mapped drive, and finding no network, leaves it disconnected. Anyone know any way around this?