WinXP. Unable to map home drive. Map's to root of share only.

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bowser325

This is a Win2K server environment with XP workstations. When a user
log's in and is attached to their home folder, the mapping connects
to the root of the share \\share\users$ as apposed to home folder
\\share\users$\username. The problem started out as a very random
occurrence, and usually a restart would solve the problem. But in
recent day's it has become more frequent and with some users it's a
given it will happen every time. I confirmed that it is not a policy
setting "Connect home directory to root of share". It's hard to
determine if its user or machine based. Other user can log into a
machine that is having the problem and it won't happen, and the user
that the problem is happening to can log into another machine fine.

And help or suggestion would be much appreciated.

A-Ron.
 
bowser325 said:
This is a Win2K server environment with XP workstations. When a user
log's in and is attached to their home folder, the mapping connects
to the root of the share \\share\users$ as apposed to home folder
\\share\users$\username. The problem started out as a very random
occurrence, and usually a restart would solve the problem. But in
recent day's it has become more frequent and with some users it's a
given it will happen every time. I confirmed that it is not a policy
setting "Connect home directory to root of share". It's hard to
determine if its user or machine based. Other user can log into a
machine that is having the problem and it won't happen, and the user
that the problem is happening to can log into another machine fine.

And help or suggestion would be much appreciated.

A-Ron.
Click to expand...

What mechanism do you use to connect to the user's home folder?
Where exactly did you define it?
 
Under user properties - Profile Tab - Home Folder - Connect S: To:
\\server\users$\%username%
 
bowser325 said:
Under user properties - Profile Tab - Home Folder - Connect S: To:
\\server\users$\%username%
Click to expand...

You are relying in inbuilt mechanisms which can be
hard to debug. I would use an external mechanism
that is completely visible and easy to debug. Get rid
of the home folder entry in the user's profile and place
this instruction into your logon script instead:

net use S: \\server\users$\%UserName%
pause

Remove the "pause" commend when you see that
things work OK.
 
Thanks for you reply

I have tried mapping the path as stated below i.e.
\\server\users$\%username% within the login script. The login script runs ok
with no errors but still get random failure (Please note these login scripts
and drive mappings have been working for 2-3 years with no problems - it is
only since we upgraded to Windows XP SP2 that the problem started and it
seems to be very random)

Do you still recommend getting rid of the home folder entry in the users
profile even though I am running the scripts as you suggest (I have approx
20,000 users)

I have also mapped drives manually after login using the net use command but
this still fails.

I have also tried disabling the ADS group policy in User Configuration\Admin
Templates\System\User Profiles

Mick
 
We don't get an error message - We get a drive mapping only to the share i.e.
\\server\home$ not \\server\home$\"username"
 
You previously wrote:
"I have also mapped drives manually after login using the net use command
but this still fails."

You then wrote:
"We don't get an error message - We get a drive mapping only to the share
i.e.
\\server\home$ not \\server\home$\"username"

These two statements are at variance with all my networking experience.
Either something works, or else I get an error message.

If you wish to map drives manually for testing purposes then
you must do it from a Command Prompt:
net use s: \\server\home$
net use t: \\server\home$\%UserName%

After resolving any problems surrounding these commands,
put them into your netlogon batch file, followed by a "pause"
command, until they work or until you see the exact error
message.
 
Sorry if I'm not explaining myself very well...
we are trying to map root a folder to \\server\home$\%username% and most of
the time it works i.e. root map to the home folders user account, but
sometimes it only maps the drive to the share i.e. \\server\home$

when it fails net use s: \\server\home$\%username% only returns the same
mapping of \\server\home$ and doesn't map to the users home folder i.e. no
error message but the wrong drive mapping
 
OK, time to run some tests. Please run the following batch file
on the problem workstation, then post the contents of c:\test*.txt
and c:\test*.err.

@echo off
echo %date% %time% user=%UserName% 1>c:\test1.txt 2>c:\test1.err
net use x: \\server\home$ 1>>c:\test1.txt 2>>c:\test1.err
net use y: \\server\home$\%UserName% 1>>c:\test1.txt 2>>c:\test1.err
net use 1>>c:\test1.txt 2>>c:\test1.err
dir x:\ 1>>c:\test1.txt 2>>c:\test1.err

Now hop onto the server and run this command from a
Command Prompt:
net share xxx=d:\yyy\xxx
where xxx is the user's logon name (as above) and d:yyy is the
physical location of \\server\home$. Check your handiwork by
running this command:
dir \\server\home$\xxx
You must also set the ***share*** permissions for xxx to
"Full Control for Everyone". You can do this in Explorer.

Now run the following batch file from the same workstation
as before:

@echo off
echo %date% %time% user=%UserName% 1>c:\test2.txt 2>c:\test2.err
net use x: \\server\home$ 1>>c:\test2.txt 2>>c:\test2.err
net use y: \\server\home$\%UserName% 1>>c:\test2.txt 2>>c:\test2.err
net use 1>>c:\test2.txt 2>>c:\test2.err
dir x:\ 1>>c:\test2.txt 2>>c:\test2.err

The results should be interesting.
 
Has anyone found a resolution for this? I also this intermittent
problem with Windows XP and AD2000.

Mark Clark
 
Sorry for the slow reply (and thanks for your help)

I have run the scripts as you requested and attached them below.

I don't quite understand the 2nd script because its mapping to the original
share and not the share that you asked me to create on the server. As you can
see the when I run your script it works ok but this has always been the case
when done after logon. My original login scripts do work but occasionally
fail to the root map (I have also attached net use to show you how sometimes
they work and sometimes they dont - look at the F: drive mapping).
**********somtime don't work sometimes work:
New connections will be remembered.


Status Local Remote Network

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK F: \\Server\data$ Microsoft Windows Network

The command completed successfully.



New connections will be remembered.


Status Local Remote Network

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK F: \\Server\data$\0\00026260 Microsoft Windows Network

The command completed successfully.

**********Test1.txt
05/10/2005 14:31:45.79 user=00026260
The command completed successfully.

The command completed successfully.

New connections will be remembered.


Status Local Remote Network

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK F: \\Server\data$ Microsoft Windows Network
OK X: \\Server\data$ Microsoft Windows Network
OK Y: \\Server\data$\0\00026260 Microsoft Windows Network
The command completed successfully.

Volume in drive X is Data
Volume Serial Number is 8E42-75BC

Directory of x:\
**********Test1.err
File Not Found
**********Test2.txt
05/10/2005 14:36:27.50 user=00026260
The command completed successfully.

The command completed successfully.

New connections will be remembered.


Status Local Remote Network

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK F: \\Server\data$ Microsoft Windows Network
OK X: \\Server\data$ Microsoft Windows Network
OK Y: \\Server\data$\0\00026260 Microsoft Windows Network
The command completed successfully.

Volume in drive X is Data
Volume Serial Number is 8E42-75BC

Directory of x:\
**********Test2.err
File Not Found
 
There is something very strange going on. Consider this:

- Your user's name is 00026260.
- The command net use x: \\server\home$ generates this mapping:
X: \\Server\data$
- The command net use y: \\server\home$\%UserName%
is expected to create this mapping:
Y: \\Server\data$\00026260
but instead it creates this maping:
Y: \\Server\data$\0\00026260

What's the extra "0\" doing in there? Does this folder exist?
What is its purpose? When you execute the command
net share home$ on the server, where does it point to?

Perhaps your share definition for the home$ share is corrupt.
I would run these commands on the server:
net share home$ /del
net share home$=d:\SomeFolder\SomeSubFolder

Your question about my second batch file is justified. It should
have read
net use y: \\server\%UserName% instead of
net use y: \\server\home$\%UserName%

Does the corrected command work? Every time?
 
The \0 folder does exist - I will try to explain further...

We have approx 20,000 users and all users accounts are 8 digits long. The
last digit of each user belongs to the folder within home$ e.g. 12345678
would reside in the 8 folder therefore ads home path and folder would be
\\server\data$\8\12345678 - I had to amend your original batch files to get
round this. The reason I do it like this is because on 20,000 users it is a
lot faster to cut the folders down i.e. approx 10% each - Hope this make
sense - its much faster to manage!

If I execute the command net use f: /home it would point to the ads hence
\\server\data$\8\12345678. but even when I put net use
\\server\data$\8\%username% into the login script it still sometime fails.

If I created seperate shares for each user account as you suggested in your
test it would work like a dream - but that would mean the server having
20,000 shares (too many and harder to manage), hence the justification for
root maps.

Very interesting point you made about the share been corrupt. I will have to
try deleting and recreating the share at a suitable time of the day when no
users are logged in. I think this is a good thought but then again I would
expect it to fail more often and seeing other users with the same problem as
me I find it hard to agree but obviously keen to try - Watch this space!
 
This is some big show you're running there!

Your comments explain the discrepancy I observed, and I do
not think that creating 20,000 shares is a good idea.

If this was my server then I would ring the Microsoft HelpDesk
for advice. They will charge you for the service but will refund the
charge if it's caused by a Windows bug. Seeing that it's intermittent,
I think it's a bug. Alternatively you may be pushing your server
beyond its limits. Regardless what it is, I think it would be money
well spent.
 
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