How to disable "Network Path Not Found" on Start-Up

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Clueless in Seattle

I have my desktop and laptop computers connected together in a peer-to-
peer network with Windows 2000.

Each morning when I turn on my computers, whichever one I turn on
first stalls with a message that says something like "Cannot connect
to computer B."

Well, of course computer A can't connect to computer B because I
haven't gone down to the other end of my apartment to turn on computer
B yet. I can't very well be in two places at once can I?

In the meantime, of course, Windows stops loading until I come back to
the first computer and click a button to continue loading the
operating system.

There's also a little box that says something like "do not try to
restore the connection in the future." Which I dutifully check each
time.

But the following morning the same thing happens all over again.

How can I configure my network connection so that it will not stall
Windows start up each morning when I turn on my computer? I'd like to
be able to turn on my computer, go the the kitchen to fix a cup of tea
and come back to find the operating system loaded and ready to get to
work, instead of finding it stalled at that "can't find other
computer" roadblock.

Ideally I'd like Windows Networking to just wait its turn, and then
after the operating system has finished loading, it could check for
the network connection, and if it's not found, to just keep checking
at regular intervals until I turn on the other computer.

Can that be done?

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
 
Clueless in Seattle said:
I have my desktop and laptop computers connected together in a peer-to-
peer network with Windows 2000.

Each morning when I turn on my computers, whichever one I turn on
first stalls with a message that says something like "Cannot connect
to computer B."

Well, of course computer A can't connect to computer B because I
haven't gone down to the other end of my apartment to turn on computer
B yet. I can't very well be in two places at once can I?

In the meantime, of course, Windows stops loading until I come back to
the first computer and click a button to continue loading the
operating system.

There's also a little box that says something like "do not try to
restore the connection in the future." Which I dutifully check each
time.

But the following morning the same thing happens all over again.

How can I configure my network connection so that it will not stall
Windows start up each morning when I turn on my computer? I'd like to
be able to turn on my computer, go the the kitchen to fix a cup of tea
and come back to find the operating system loaded and ready to get to
work, instead of finding it stalled at that "can't find other
computer" roadblock.

Ideally I'd like Windows Networking to just wait its turn, and then
after the operating system has finished loading, it could check for
the network connection, and if it's not found, to just keep checking
at regular intervals until I turn on the other computer.

Can that be done?

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
Click to expand...

Instead of relying on remembered connection, place the following
batch files into the "All Users\Startup" folder of each PC:

@echo off
set count=0
set OtherIP=192.168.0.1
set OtherName=Laptop
net use /persistent:no

:Again
ping OtherIP | find /i "bytes=" > nul && goto Connected
if %count% GEQ 3 goto ForgetIt
set /a count=%count% + 1
ping localhost -n 60 > nul
goto Again

:Connected
net use S: \\%OtherPC%\Share1
:ForgetIt
net use
ping localhost -n 5 > nul

Here are some explanations:
- You must give your machines fixed IP addresses.
- In the batch file residing on the laptop, set OtherIP
and OtherName to the correct values for the desktop.
- Similar for the batch file residing on the desktop.
- Each PC will send test packets to the other PC. If
none are returned then it will pause for 60 seconds
before trying again.
- When successful, it will make the connection to the
share.
- If unsuccessful after three attempts, it will give up.

You should now be able to have your cuppa and find
everything ready for you by the time you come back.
 
You would be much better off to forget about the whole drive letter thing
and start using Shortcuts based on the UNC path (\\machinename\sharename).
The shortcut will "appear" as a folder on the Desktop or the My Documents,
or wherever you put it and it can be browsed to from any Browse Dialog Box
just as if it was any other folder. Shortcuts can also be renamed to any
name you want to give them so not only will you easily remember what they
are but the name can just blatantly state exactly what they are so there
isn't even anything to have to remember.

Shortcuts do not have to maintain a constant connection, they do not ever
"time out", and they do not eat up any resources at all the way mapped drive
letters do.

--
Phillip Windell
www.wandtv.com

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
 
Wow! That's cool!

It's been ages since I've done anything with batch files. Over the
last few years I've become so sick that I can't spend much time at the
computer anymore, but I used to love playing around with batch files.
Made some pretty tricky ones back in the day.

So this will be like old times.

But it may take me a while to get it working right and debugged, given
that I can only sit at the computer for a few minutes at a time these
days.

Many thanks for the help, I'll let you know how it goes.

Will Anderson in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
 
Thanks for the feedback. You might find that batch files
have become a lot more powerful under Win2000/XP.
Try to run the following 3-liner, just for fun:

@echo off
set Name=Clueless in Seattle
echo Hello, %Name%. I think your proper name should be
"%Name:Clueless=Savvy%"
 
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