Mapped network drives failing to disconnect users
I am using multiple Windows 7 Pro x64 systems with mapped network drives to a Windows Server 2008 Standard x64 SP2 (my fileserver). Usually, following a log-off or restart, users must reauthenticate to access the shared folders in the network drive. Now it seems that this is not the case, which is a problem. If I log into a network drive, I expect that my authentication would be required again after restarting, and if this is not the case, then there is no real security. The network password is not stored in Credential Manager. Any suggestions?
June 28th, 2010 10:02pm

Hi, To get the prompt to type user name and password, please refer to the following steps. 1. After “open command prompt 'net use * /delete <enter>'”, please reboot the computer and see if you will be prompted to input the credential when access the share again. 2. Please access the share first, and then go to the side which is connected and run the command “net session” to see if there is a session from your computer. If so, please run the command “net session \\ComputerName /delete” to disconnect this session. On your computer, please try to access the share again to see if you will be asked for credential. Net session If you feel the time for automatic disconnecting session is long, you can adjust “autodisconnect” refer to the following method: How Autodisconnect Works in Windows NT and Windows 2000 Thanks, NovakPlease 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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June 29th, 2010 9:45am

I have removed the mapped drive several times and each time I remap the drive, it asks for credentials, but never again. When I restart, the drive remains connected and does not ask for credentials. This is also ocurring on Windows XP Pro workstations, which leads me to believe this is an issue with the fileserver (Windows Server 2008 Standard SP2)? The workstations are not part of a domain.
June 30th, 2010 6:39pm

Update to my issues here: I recently added another fileserver (also Windows Server 2008 Standard SP2 x64). The second fileserver is being used for a single application. The users on three workstatations required mapped drives to both fileservers. When one mapped drive is connected, the other cannot. The error message I get is "Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again". Can I not have two different network drives connected at the same time? I can't see how this is possible, as I have used connections to multiple servers before without issue. Is this an issue specific to Server 2008? If I disconnect one drive and remap, I can connect, but it is not possible for my users to do this every time they need to connect.
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June 30th, 2010 9:37pm

Hi, Based on my research, I would like to share you the following article to troubleshoot the error message. Error message when you use user credentials to connect to a network share from a Windows-based computer: "The network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password" Thanks, NovakPlease 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 1st, 2010 4:52am

Thank you...I had found this article in my research as well. The kicker here though is that I am connecting to two different servers, not two shares on a single server. To summarize my current issues: 1. Workstations mapped to Fileserver A are not releasing user authentication. The network drive allows a user into the file structure without requiring credentials on startup or reboot. There are no saved passwords in the credentials manager. 2. Workstations are not allowing connections to two different shared folders on two different servers at the same time. Any other advice or insight is greatly appreciated!
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July 1st, 2010 4:47pm

Hi zman21, To answer the first question for you: When you connect to a network share that requires authentication, Windows will always attempt to transparently submit credentials for the logged on user first. If that fails, then you will be prompted to log in. In an Active Directory domain, that first credential transmission is always done with a kerberos ticket that you obtained from your domain controller - the retry (if the initial attempt fails) will be done using NTLM. It sounds like in your environment, kerberos was failing previously but is now working, possibly due to another change on the network. Can you confirm whether these machines are all in the same Active Directory domain, using the same DNS servers, and etc? As for the second question, usually you will get this error when the client computer thinks you're trying to connect to the same resource again. Can you post examples of the UNC paths you're using to connect to the shares? Regards, David Beach Microsoft Online Community Support
July 2nd, 2010 10:26pm

Hi David, The servers are part of a domain, but the workstations are not (they are all part of a single workgroup). The AD domain is only used for remote terminal services connections for a single application. The AD server is also the DNS server and all workstations pull that DNS entry from the DHCP server. I have made the following changes to the local policy security settings: Sharing and security model for local accounts: Guest only Allow local system to use computer identity for NTLM: Disabled LAN Manager authenticaton level: NTLM2 only; refuse LM and NTLM These changes have somewhat helped the simultaneous connections to the two servers. For example, on one workstation, I got the error message when attempting to connect to one mapped drive, but then tried another mapped drive, which worked. I then tried the first mapped drive again and it connected. Following log-offs/reboots, the connectivity is inconsistent. Examples of the UNC path: \\fileserver\sharedfolder \\appserver\sharedfolder I have also tried using \\IPaddress\sharedfolder which resulted in the same error message. Thanks for your assistance.
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July 6th, 2010 6:10pm

Update: A local logon password to one workstation (a workstation that was not requiring re-authentication to the shared folder) was the same as a user's password to the shared folder on the server. After changing the user's password to the shared folder, the workstation required authentication, even following log-offs and reboots, which is the desired behavior. So even though the local account on the workstation was not in the AD, it must have been authenticating through this method. Any thoughts on how/why this was happening, just for future knowledge? Still having inconsistent results with connecting to the shares on different servers. The second shared drive will only sometimes connect. It seems as if I wait several minutes between attempting to connect to the different shares, the connection works, so now I'm trying to determine if a delay in authentication could be ocurring?
July 6th, 2010 8:43pm

Update: A local logon password to one workstation (a workstation that was not requiring re-authentication to the shared folder) was the same as a user's password to the shared folder on the server. After changing the user's password to the shared folder, the workstation required authentication, even following log-offs and reboots, which is the desired behavior. So even though the local account on the workstation was not in the AD, it must have been authenticating through this method. Any thoughts on how/why this was happening, just for future knowledge? This happens because SMB reuses the session setup from the earlier connection, and SMB only checks authentication during session setup. Essentially, here's how it works: UserA establishes an authenticated session to the remote server. That session is left active. UserB tries to access a file share on the remote server (from the same box). Because we already have an active session to that remote server, SMB reuses the existing session (and just does a new Tree Connect). Because the existing session is reused, UserB is not prompted for authentication NTLM comes into play here because NTLM does not use a domain credential. Meaning that if you have a workstation in a workgroup, you can still access a server in a domain using NTLM if the username and password on the workstation matches a username and password in the domain. The DC has no way to know that the person performing the logon isn't a domain user.Regards, David Beach Microsoft Online Community Support
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July 7th, 2010 12:37am

So what's the resolution to the multiple connections error? When a workstation is booted, why is the error about multiple connections being presented when I haven't even attemtped to authenticate to the share. If the local account is attempting to authenticate to the share, how can I prevent such from ocurring? Let's say a user logs into a workstation locally with username "LocalUser". "LocalUser" is not a domain account. On ServerA, a user called "UserA" exists. On the workstation, the user attempts to connect to a share on ServerA with the username "UserA". Before asking for credentials, the workstations gives out the error "Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again. This connection has not been restored."
July 7th, 2010 7:36pm

Hi zman21, In regards to the error, "Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again. This connection has not been restored." This would indicate that there is already a connection to the server from the workstation. You mention that you are connecting to the share with the username "UserA". How are you accomplishing this? Are you doing a Net Use and providing the user name or mapping a drive through explorer and selecting "Connect using different credentials"? Also, on the server if you do a "net sessions", do you already see a connection from the workstation? Regards, Clark Microsoft Online Community Support
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July 9th, 2010 2:07am

Hi Clark, I am mapping a drive through Explorer. When I attempt to open the drive, I may either use the previous user logged in, or I may choose Connect using different credentials. I should have to provide a user name and password to the mapped drive the first time I login after startup/reboot/logon to Windows. When the PC is on and I use net sessions on the server, I do see the connection from the workstation.
July 16th, 2010 5:16pm

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