user loses mapped home directory

I am working on a huge windows network. There are more than 100 pc on the network. Now there is a single server which is controlling all of them. I had shared a network drive which is mapped on every client. Whatever content created is copied on the map drive. But somehow something happened recently due to which the map drive disappear. On boot the drive is not listed inside My Computer. I thought it would work fine after reboot so I simply verified and check all the configuration settings. But it did not worked.

What error you are getting. Is the map drive disappeared or it is not opening. It looks the somebody messed with the folder sharing settings due to which you got the issue. Just try to reconfigure everything back and then check back. That is simply easy to fix. Just go in the server and verify the folder path is proper. Ensure that there is no timeout settings. Also check once the security application which might not be causing the problem.

Try to run windows update. That will be more beneficial. I will recommend you to run windows update first and deploy them on all your clients. The second thing you have to do is go in event viewer and check out for error log description. See what you can find some information on the problem you are facing. So just verify what the log reports are telling and then post it here. It will be more helpful to locate solution for the same.

There is a hotfix available that can fix the problem you are using. You have to run this on all the systems and it will remove the issue of instantly disappearing map drives. Just click on the link below and download the hotfix. Run the same in your pc and then see whether the issue is resolved or not. But if you are still getting the problem then you can do one thing. Try to add the map drive back again and configure the settings of offline sync and then check back.

Drive Letters of Mapped Network Drives Are Missing in Windows Explorer

I think the issue lies with permission settings. Somehow due to improper permission things get messed up. You have to check properly and configure the connectivity back again. If the permission is messed you get the problem. Just ensure that whichever pc is using the shared resource is having a complete permission to access it. You can also create a new group of users who can access the drive and them move them in it. It will be visible instantly in My Computer.

I had also got through the same issue. I am having a home folder which is shared via AD properties. The settings were proper. The drive letter was mapped on the basis of user name. Mean each user was having a different folder on the server instead of accessing the same one. The server was fine but due to some issue the drive disappeared. I performed some updates and found patches which fixed the problem after installing it. So just check for the patches for your server and then check back.

Yes there are some patches available via Windows update. But you can download them manually from microsoft website also. They are simply beneficial to fix the problem you are facing. Go in the properties of map network drive and ensure that you tick on reconnect on logon. That will be simply best I think to fix the problem you are facing. To get a bit more help on the map drive just type net use /? in cmd and hit enter. That' all. That will be simply be more helpful according to me.

We have the same issue at our location, has anyone figured out a solution to this that works?

Don Simmons

If all the connected drives just disappear instantly at one time then it means there is some problem with the server not with the client system. Either the settings are messed out or there are chances that some security application might also be the cause of same issue. You have to check the same properly. Just re-verify in your system that applied settings remain stable or not. There are some logon script on web that you can use to deal with the problem. That is a complicated procedure but really works.

If issue is limited to some users then it is recommended to say that the problem can be fixed by logon script. But it at a single time if all computers on the network are dealing with the problem them it is not correct to use logon script. I will advice you to have a look on the active directory properties and see what you can get there. I think that will be more beneficial to fix the issue. Just for temporary purpose just turn off the firewall and then check back.

Our company has just started having this issue. The issue is sporadic and seems to be happening to our senior management (It may be the people actually using it though). We have the following setup:

-80 users logging onto different 4 sites
-3 2003 domain controllers. The functional level has not been raised.
-1 Exchange server


We have Shadow copies running where the users' folders are located.

We've had this problem for several years. Does anyone know if there is a fix
for it in SP 3?

All of our machines have been updated to SP3 so it appears to happen with that. I just did away with the profile mapping in our company and just have a log on script that maps all the drives. I haven't lost any mappings yet... Time will tell though.

I'm having the exact same problem.
Chosaru, have you noticed any problems with using the profile mapping instead of mapping through the Home Folder?

I'm dying, cause this is happening to my boss more frequently than anyone else!

I started having the same problem unfortunately. Infrequently with XPsp2 but heavily with XPsp3 to the point that it is affecting our operations. Luckily the “My Documents” policy redirection has not been affected but for those who use the "H:" drive it has been unpleasant.

As a work around I wrote a short script that removes the home directory drive of H:, grabs the profile setting and then remaps it thereby accomplishing the same purpose and overriding the automatic mechanism. I attached the vbs to a logon policy in the users OU to make it work.

Good luck and I expect we will eventually figure this one out but I do not have the time at the moment. (See Attached)

On Error Resume Next
Dim objNet : Set objNet = CreateObject("Wscript.Network")
Set ADSysInfo = CreateObject("ADSystemInfo")
Set objUser = GetObject("LDAP://" & ADSysInfo.Username)
objNet.RemoveNetworkDrive "H:", Force
objNet.MapNetworkDrive "H:", objUser.homeDirectory

Not only is there not a fix in XPsp3 but it now much worse. Se my latest post.

:-)