Mapped Drives only connect every other reboot to server not on the domain
Hello, I have been seraching the forums for an answer to this with no luck so hopefully someone here has the answer. I work in a midsize shop with a domain environment (2008 AD). We switched early last year from using scripts to the GPO Preferences for Mapping drives. Everything works fine on the XP machines and even the Windows 7 machines during our testing. However, I have a group of individuals that need two network drives mapped to two separate folders on the same server in our DMZ (not on our domain). This was no problem in the past with xp, but recently one of the individuals was given a new laptop with windows 7 on it. Since they received this new laptop the drives have not been mapping correctly. The best I have been able to accomplish is that the drives will map correctly the first time but after a reboot they come up with the big red X through them and ask me to type in credentials. If I don't do anything but reboot, the next time they come up and are connected correctly. We have the following setup in the GPO for these two folders... Drive X: Action: Replace Location: \\server1\folder1 Reconnect: (not checked) Username: testname Password: testpass Drive Y: Action: Replace Location: \\server1\folder2 Reconnect: (not checked) Username: testname Password: testpass I have both drives set to run in the users security context. I have also tried changing the username from just the username to \server1\testname with no success. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
July 23rd, 2010 6:15pm

Hi Bmc, Can you double check that the group policy isn't being applied twice.. i.e. it's not duplicated under the OU structure?
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July 24th, 2010 12:15am

You are trying to map drive for a shared folder on a domain computer from an Windows 7 computer that is out of the domain. Is that correct? If so, you need to use a domain credential for the drive mapping. In the “username” section, I suggest you specify the domain of the user name. Such as “domainname\testname” instead of “testname”. If the issue is not resolve, please I suggest you change the NTLM authentication level for the outside Windows 7 computer. 1. Launch gedit.msc from Start Search box. 2. Locate to: Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options\Network security: LAN Manager authentication level 3. Change the policy setting to “Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated”. If the issue still occurs, I suggest you temporary disable the firewall on the host computer which shares the folder and check the result.Please 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.
July 26th, 2010 11:22am

No luck on either of those suggestions. Group Policy Results don't show any policy being applied twice. We also have all of the drive mappings located in just one GPO. I tried switching the username to domainname\testname but I'm getting the same results. The server I'm trying to connect to is running Window 2003 Enterprise Edition. I also tried this on my own laptop running windows 7 and am seeing the same behavior. Any other suggestions?
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July 28th, 2010 5:01pm

Have you tried moving the users to an OU that doesn't have this group policy applied.. then mapping the drives manually.. what happens? if the drive is still being mapped automatically, then there must be something else on the domain or local PC such as a logon script which is automatically mapping those drives. If your finding that this is only happening with Windows 7, then the reason why you are not having this problem with previous Operating Systems maybe that Group Policy Client Side Preferences has not been installed on them. This means that those PC's won't be able to fully use the new 2008 features such as mapping network drives in Group Policy. See also: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e60b5c8f-d7dc-4b27-a261-247ce3f6c4f8&displaylang=en
July 28th, 2010 8:10pm

Have you tried to change the NTLM authentication level as I suggested in my previous post? Please 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.
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July 29th, 2010 9:36am

Okay, I took my laptop out of group policy and manually mapped the drive and it stayed connected through 4 straight reboots. All of the XP machines are using the same group policy and I've had no complaints about drives not mapping correctly. We use WSUS so I'm sure the XP machines have the client side preferences patch applied as well. Arthur, I did change the NTLM authentication level on my local laptop as you suggested but not in the GPO (didn't want to change it for everyone) and it didn't seem to make a difference on my PC. I shouldn't have to change the NTML authentication level in the GPO should I? My local group policy should be applied last correct?
July 30th, 2010 4:18pm

Since the issue is not related to NTLM authentication, you do not need to change it in GPO. Since the issue does not occur if you manually map drives, there may be some issue in the script you used.Please 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.
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August 3rd, 2010 11:46am

Yes, but I'm not using a script, its just the client side preferences in group policy (GPO policy) we are using to map the drives. I did created another set of credentials on the server and created a new drive mapping just for me using the new credentials (everyone else was using the same set of credentials). The new credentials mapped the drive correctly on my laptop through several reboots so I'm going to try creating another set of credentials without admin rights and testing again. I'm busy working on another project till the 23rd so no updates from me for a while but I'll be sure and update this post once I return. Thanks for all the help.
August 5th, 2010 11:07pm

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