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I have a user that has a AD (Windows 2003) loginscript that maps a number of drives. The user has to traverse an external network to login to the domain. It is a pretty reliable connection but it's sometimes slow.

Here's how the loginscript is mapping drives:

net use x: \server\share /PERSISTENT:YES

Sometimes she logs in and no drives show up in my computer. The /PERSISTENT switch should make these drives permanent, but this is not the case. In fact, loginscripts shouldn't even be necessary if you use this switch.

I also set the group policy option for her computer:

computer config\admin templates\system\logon\always wait for the network at computer startup and logon

to enabled. This slows down her startup but decreased the frequency of there being missing drives.

I have windows 7 ent. on my machine and I reboot with the network cable unplugged and my drives show up still. Does anyone know what could cause these drives to disappear? Is there a setting or registry key I'm missing? Another GPO setting to try?

James
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  • i have the same issue w/ windows 7 business and file shares on a samba server. I had assume it was a samba problem. – iPaulo Aug 12 '11 at 20:23

4 Answers4

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I've seen similar issues with lower drive letters ie f: g:, etc. If there is a local drive such as a usb device that is plugged in it will take prescidence over the mapped drive letter and cause problems even after it is unplugged, until the machine is rebooted.

tkrabec
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  • I've seen problems like this too in other situations. I forgot about this possibility, but our network drive letters start at h: and the user only has a c: and d: drive. Thanks for the pointer. – James Aug 15 '11 at 17:20
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You also going to want to configure slow link detection and behavior in GPO for any users/computers that will be traversing an unreliable/slow network.

With just the default settings configured, scripts will not be processed over a slow link.

MDMarra
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  • I'm using login scripts defined in the user object. We are gradually switching over to gpo loginscripts. Thanks. – James Jun 22 '12 at 17:20
  • @James Not sure what that means. You should still configure these settings on any computer that would be processing GPOs over a slow link. – MDMarra Jun 22 '12 at 19:05
  • Sorry meant that I'm not using gpo login scripts right now. I'm trying to work in gpos into our infrastructure more little by little. – James Jun 22 '12 at 19:38
  • Ah, well if you're not using them for drive maps, don't start! Use Group Policy Preferences for print and drive maps! – MDMarra Jun 22 '12 at 20:02
  • Why not do gpo login scripts? Thanks for bringing up the gpo prefs, I have to look into this more. We don't have 2008 DCs though so I don't think it's doable :( – James Jun 27 '12 at 13:09
  • You should be able to configure those policies using the GPMC from a Windows 7 computer without having 2008 DCs. Microsoft is pushing people to get rid of logon scripts and use preferences instead. Item-Level Targetting alone makes GPP worth using over logon scripts. – MDMarra Jun 27 '12 at 15:07
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In the system policy editor you can set the system to run a batch file at startup. That should be one way you could fix if you cant find the real answer.

djangofan
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  • Thanks for the quick response. I know there are ways to run batch files from registry/gpo. I'm looking to map the drives without them disappearing. Is there something quirky going on with Windows 7 in terms losing drives. I think I may give this command a shot tomorrow: NET CONFIG SERVER /AUTODISCONNECT:-1 – James Aug 10 '11 at 22:40
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This can happen if the login script/batch file runs before the network is ready. In your login script/batch file, first line, ping the server. This will cause a delay in mapping the drives until the network is fully ready to map the drives.

Rich
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    He has already enabled the GPO to wait for network connectivity. That would render this approach redundant. Plus, I'd kind of kludgy anyway :) – MDMarra Jun 20 '12 at 17:33