Drives mapped to a network share keep breaking
Hi, I have a network share \\Server\ShareName and I am trying to find a robust and unbreakable way to share that drive for anyone uses that computer. Basically, \\Server\ShareName should become all users’ X:\ drive and it becomes as reliable as C:\ drive. I know how to map a network share to a drive, but it is quite fragile. For any new user, I have to map is and it keeps breaking upon any security setting changes. Users need to use X:\ drive like a USB drive. Is there such feature in windows server 2008 r2? Thank you.
November 12th, 2010 9:40am

you have only to map that share with following command net use X: \\Server\ShareName /persistent:yes and put this command in a batch file that is executed at every logon. HTHEdoardo Benussi - Microsoft MVP Management Infrastructure - Systems Administration https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/Profile/Benussi Windows Server Italian Forum Moderator edo[at]mvps[dot]org
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November 12th, 2010 10:21am

Robust? Unbreakable? Yes,...quit using mapped drives. They are dinosaurs. Use \\server\sharename Make it a UNC Shortcut. Put the Shortcut in the Desktop of the All Users Profile. It will then behave just like a Folder on the user's Desktop and can even be "browsed through" with most browse dialog boxes. It will never loose a connection because there is no connection to maintain. It also does not bog down the machine with drive itteration everytime a browse dialog is opened or an Explorer Windows is opened.
November 12th, 2010 2:38pm

Hi Edoardo, We are using a similar approach (/persistent:yes is equivalent to "Reconnect at logon" check box) The network drive is being used by SQL server 2008 agent backup (runs as different agent proxy user for different backups. We are having many issues with this network drives.
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November 12th, 2010 4:59pm

Hi Phillip, The network drives are used by windows service applications and sql server 2008 backup destination. UNC is not an option. Thanks.
November 12th, 2010 5:02pm

We are having many issues with this network drives. what kind of issues do you hav with this network drives ?Edoardo Benussi - Microsoft MVP Management Infrastructure - Systems Administration https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/Profile/Benussi Windows Server Italian Forum Moderator edo[at]mvps[dot]org
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November 14th, 2010 7:04am

what kind of issues do you hav with this network drives ? USB storage is always available for all users that can login to the windows box. In contrast, network drives must be mapped for any new user. Security settings must be assigned as well. We have many SQL server agent jobs working as different local and AD users. In my opinion there should be something that I could define at “Disk Management”. I enter the user name and password and it becomes available for any user who can login to that box
November 14th, 2010 10:56am

I know how to map a network share to a drive, but it is quite fragile. For any new user, I have to map is and it keeps breaking upon any security setting changes. Users need to use X:\ drive like a USB drive. Is there such feature in windows server 2008 r2? In my opinion there should be something that I could define at “Disk Management”. I enter the user name and password and it becomes available for any user who can login to that box -- Hi Allan, This is very achievable via Group Policy objects now... If you navigate a Group Policy object, under this path. User Configuration \ Preferences \ Windows Settings You can specify item level targeting(common tab) to create custom mapped drives for security groups instead of worrying about small batch scripts to deploy them without the brain behind it to know if a user is supposed to map those drive letters. Then wherever that user logs in, they will receive that mapped drive. The item level targeting is a lot more broad than just a security group and will open many doors to options you can customize... Think of the man hours you'll save on thinking and writting a batch file summed up into a period of 10 minutes to setup this GPO. ;) In contrast, you can also set that same group policy in the "Computer Configuration" gpo tree to apply to any user at a specific workstation... so any user logging in to that workstation will receive the mapped drive. Only users logging into that workstation will receive the mapped drive.(or computers within the umbrella of that GPO.) Please see the reference at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770902.aspx regarding Microsoft's best practice methodologies in applying the Mapped Drives via GPO. This would be the best way to apply your mapped drive scenario incase you decide to re-provision the specified share at any point in the future. Thus putting you the administrator in control and not at bay on a per-user basis... and viola, you've just saved yourself 10 minutes of work per user that needs to be setup of running to their desk-side and setting this up. You can apply security policies at the workstation or on the server according to specific users and the requirements their roles may need. Then you don't need to worry about setting this up or resetting it up... On to bigger and better things... Cheers! Steve Kline Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator Microsoft Certified Product Specialist Microsoft Certified Network Product Specialist This posting is "as is" without warranties and confers no rights.
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November 15th, 2010 12:42am

Hi Allan, Thanks for posting here. Are the users are domain member ? You may consider assign home folder for account in profile tab of account properties. For example : if you want assign a shard folder where locate under UNC path \\server\share , the you should input path ” \\server\share\%username%” for user A in profile tab of account properties and connect to A:\ . After that when user A logon computer ,Z:\ would be redirected to UNC path \\server\share\A . I thinks this should achieve your goal. Add a home folder to a profile http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc785843(WS.10).aspx Thanks. Tiger Li TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.comPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
November 15th, 2010 12:47am

Follow Steve's suggestions! byeEdoardo Benussi - Microsoft MVP Management Infrastructure - Systems Administration https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/Profile/Benussi Windows Server Italian Forum Moderator edo[at]mvps[dot]org
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November 15th, 2010 4:44am

Hi Allan, If there is any update on this issue, please feel free to let us know. We are looking forward to your reply. Tiger Li TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.comPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
November 18th, 2010 2:56am

Only because that is what you told those things to do. They can all use UNC pathes. UNC is always an option with those particular things.
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November 23rd, 2010 12:05pm

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