Question

Slow browsing performance when using network drive mappings

Asked by: tijsjansen

Hi Experts,

I support a network (XP pro clients and W2003 servers)where drive mappings a heavily used. Even some NAS devices are mapped with drive letters and not always available locally when these drives are taken to another location. Some users are complaining that when clicking the arrow to list all network drives in, for example Excel when using the save as command, it takes 20-30 seconds to display the list of network drives. When I delete the mapping to a drive that is currently not available, this is not a problem and performance is good. I have the feeling XP is observing a timeout period and only responds with the list of all network drives once it decided this particular network drive was not going to respond.

My question is a follows: is there a registry setting that would make XP not wait for potentially unavailable drives but just list all mappings? I know this is not very elegant but I need to keep said mappings in my logon scripts so users can connect when the drive is available.

Thanks for your valuable suggestions!

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Asked On
2007-01-03 at 06:31:38ID22109408
Tags

slow

,

network

,

drive

,

browsing

,

xp

Topic

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
2
Points
250
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: sirbountyPosted on 2007-01-03 at 06:34:30ID: 18235259

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313937 details the reason, provides resolution and/or workaround methods for you...

 

by: tijsjansenPosted on 2007-01-03 at 06:44:15ID: 18235352

That's quick sirbounty!
Thank you for above link, I have seen that article before but was looking for a workaround that allows me to map even unavailable drives while still having normal performance in office programs, something along the lines of a reg hack?
MS states:
Each location in a list is checked to make sure that it is available and that you have access permissions when you perform both the following procedures in Microsoft Office programs:• You try to open or to save a file.
• You access the Look in or the Save In list.
If any mapped drive is in a state that is documented in the "Cause" section, it takes some time for the condition to be detected and resolved by the Office program. To avoid this behavior, you should disconnect that mapped drive. You can look for the availability of the drive at any time in Windows Explorer. If the drive is available, map the network drive again later.

how do I tell office NOT to check for availibility?

Thanks!

 

by: IanThPosted on 2007-01-03 at 06:56:45ID: 18235471

I doubt that there is a workaround as this is a major windows problem and ms have never fixed it

 

by: sirbountyPosted on 2007-01-03 at 07:02:11ID: 18235527

True - the way 'we' (my company) gets around it is - we simply don't support mapped connections nor the trouble they cause.
We use only My Network Places shortcuts and the user's gain access to their shares through shortcuts added there via the login script...

 

by: tijsjansenPosted on 2007-01-03 at 07:41:45ID: 18235918

all right, thanks for your quick input and I'll just have to see how to work around this. Shortcuts instead of mappings seems like a good idea. I'll split the points for your efforts.

Thanks!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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