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serendippity

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Workstation failing to map network drives despite running batch file

I have just joined a new workstation (WinXp Pro) to our domain and appear able to log on to the domain by entering username and password in the usual way. However, no network drives appear in My Computer. Normally there would be two network drives visible: Shared Work (T:) and the user's home folder (H:).  All the network printers are also visible. The batch file which maps the network printers has as its first line the mapping of the home drive and its second line the mapping of the Shared Work folder. There are no problems logging on to other workstations on the network, only this one machine. Having tried several log ons with different accounts, strangely, on rare occasions, the Shared Work folder has appeared, but not so far any user's home folder. I have never come across this issue before. The computer account for the workstation is visible in Active Directory. I have disjoined the workstation from the domain and rejoined it with no difference in behaviour.  I have just upgraded this machine to WinXP Sp2. I cannot be absolutely certain, but I seem to recall that the network drive issue started to occur after the upgrade.  I am not yet in a position to reboot the domain servers, so have not tried this. I am completely stumped! Any ideas for things to try?
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mrwaqar
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Did you try mapping the drive with a admin account? Are you able to map the drives manually instead of running the batch file? Type first line from batch file on command prompt and see what error it gives.
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kfullarton

Verify that the workstation firewall has exceptions enabled for file and printer sharing.  Right click on the network connection, properties, advanced, settings.  Make sure "Don't allow exceptions" is unchecked, then go to the exceptions tab.
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ASKER

For mrwaqar: I tried mapping the drive with an admin account and the error given was "the user's home directory could not be determined".

For kfullarton: all is as it should be on the Windows firewall front.
Can you map to any of the shares on the server, the netlogon share for example?

Start, run,
\\servername\netlogon
No problem mapping to the netlogon share. Can also map \\servername\d$ and get the expected result, including all the User shares (all this when logged on as administrator).
From a command prompt, run "net use x: \\servername\<some-home-directory>"

Does this return an error?
serendippity,

When you log into windows, did you select domain you joint to? You will have to click option for you to select your domain. You might be still on the local machine? Also, did you put the login file with the profile tab users account in AD?
k fullarton: I think I have typed exactly what you asked, without the inverted commas, i.e. net use x: \\xanadu\ssmith (Xanadu is not our real server name). The error I receive is System error 85, the local device name is already in use.
 Does this help?


jli168: I do select the domain and not the local machine. Not sure about your second point: I have done nothing differently with this workstation than I do with the hundred or so other clients on our network.
To All:   I'm not sure whether it is of any relevance, but I was just looking in the Event Viewer at the Security section. There is only one audit shown, dated 9 April 2006. The system date of the workstation is correct, i.e. 28 April. If I try to refresh the security, a later date does not appear and the 9 April 2006 entry remains there alone. There are also many entries in the System section, viz "the Security Centre service has been stopped. It was prevented from running by a software group policy."  Just thought I would mention.
Is there some other device using x: in My Computer?  The error indicates that something else is using that drive.  Try using q, r, or s instead of x.
kfullarton:  You were right: the message I now receive is" system error 53 has occurred: the network path was not found" when trying to access any user's home folder.
Kfullarton:  did I mention that the Shared Work network drive at least appears when logging on as administrator to this workstation, but not when logging on as a limited user.
So this regular user account can logon to other machines without an issue?  Have you tried other accounts on this box?  Was this a new installation or as you said, an upgrade?
Serendippity,

Do you have login script in place? Check your AD. Type: "\\yourserver" in Run. Look for the NETLOGON and see if you have a script in there.
Example: login.bat

Try to double click and launch the script and see if it create the drives for you.

If it creates the drives, then it is issue on the account.

You must add this login.bat in the profile tab, active directory user and computer for that user.
kfullarton:  I can log on to other machines with any account that I wish without an issue. It is only when I log on to this particular workstation that the account's home folder does not appear and, unless logging on as administrator, the shared work folder as well. This workstation is running Windows XP Professional and I recently upgraded it to Service Pack 2.

jli168: there is a login script in place which includes the printer mappings using con2prt.exe. The mapping of the home folder is the first line of the login script and the shared work folder is the second line. Then come the various printers, which all map okay. I will try running the script manually as you suggest on Tuesday when I return to the office.
Have you tried disjoining and rejoining it to the domain?  Not sure what else to suggest.  BTW, Is the firewall completely disabled?  If not, try disabling it then test.
Kfullarton and all:  SOLVED!  The reason why the computer was unable to map any user's home folder was because there was a USB multi-card reader attached and the home drive drive letter (H:) was already taken up by one of the drives Windows had created when the card reader was installed. I simply changed the drive letter of the (card reader) H: drive to J: and, hey presto, the user's home drive now appears. Thanks to all for your attempts to help me solve this mystery.
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GranMod

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