Windows 7 Group Policy Preference Drive Mappings with supplied username not working properly
We have a mixed Win7/WinXP & Server 2008 R2 environment with Drive Maps handled via Group Policy. The drive maps to domain servers work fine, but we also have a few AIX servers with Samba shares that need to be mapped as well. These shares obviously dont have directory authentication so we have the GPs setup to just use a single username/password we configured in samba, which is fine for our security purposes on that share.
The problem is that when the drives map on the Win7 machines at user login, they show up in Explorer as disconnected, and when the user clicks on the drive it requests the username and password for the share, even though we've explicitly configured the credentials in the group policy preference. If you type in the same credentials we've configured in the GP, the drive proceeds to connect and work just fine. We can't have the users have to retype credentials for individual drive mappings whenever they reboot. Any ideas why the supplied credentials dont seem to work? The XP machines dont have this problem.
We have disabled SMB Signing via Group Policy as follows:
I have also disabled SMB2 on the Win7 client as suggested by brian_vt_hokie, but the issue remains.
The problem is that when the drives map on the Win7 machines at user login, they show up in Explorer as disconnected, and when the user clicks on the drive it requests the username and password for the share, even though we've explicitly configured the credentials in the group policy preference. If you type in the same credentials we've configured in the GP, the drive proceeds to connect and work just fine. We can't have the users have to retype credentials for individual drive mappings whenever they reboot. Any ideas why the supplied credentials dont seem to work? The XP machines dont have this problem.
We have disabled SMB Signing via Group Policy as follows:
I have also disabled SMB2 on the Win7 client as suggested by brian_vt_hokie, but the issue remains.
Have you verified that SMB Signing is actually getting turned off on the clients? I understand that it's set in GP, but is it actually getting applied? Have you run RSOP to verify?
ASKER
Caracena,
That would work on an individual basis, but we have about 200 machines. This would need to be a fix that can be distributed. While we could run the net use command via logon GP, it would seem to defeat the whole purpose of the supplied credentials in the GP Drive map preference. Plus, the preference policy works fine on XP machines. Is there a reason it's not working on Win7 only? Again, the symptom is weird, the drive actually maps and the drive letter shows up in Explorer, but shows up disconnected (red "X" through it). If you click on it and enter the exact same credentials we have in the policy, it maps and continues just fine. XP machines dont have to enter credentials at all, they just work.
That would work on an individual basis, but we have about 200 machines. This would need to be a fix that can be distributed. While we could run the net use command via logon GP, it would seem to defeat the whole purpose of the supplied credentials in the GP Drive map preference. Plus, the preference policy works fine on XP machines. Is there a reason it's not working on Win7 only? Again, the symptom is weird, the drive actually maps and the drive letter shows up in Explorer, but shows up disconnected (red "X" through it). If you click on it and enter the exact same credentials we have in the policy, it maps and continues just fine. XP machines dont have to enter credentials at all, they just work.
ASKER
Brian, I'll check RSOP and post the results.
valheru_m,
You are right about the solution being innadecuate, but as Microsoft said, it is a bug in Windows 7 that generates because of the OS security changes from XP. Brian could be pointing toghuards a nice clean solution but Micrsoft suggest what I've suggested here. Look for it in the Microsoft support forums.
You are right about the solution being innadecuate, but as Microsoft said, it is a bug in Windows 7 that generates because of the OS security changes from XP. Brian could be pointing toghuards a nice clean solution but Micrsoft suggest what I've suggested here. Look for it in the Microsoft support forums.
Sure:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprosecurity/thread/aa2f1c90-79a8-41ed-9d8e-44b4dfe61794
Here´s another one where MVPs and moderators discuss if it's W7 fault or not: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itpronetworking/thread/fc561f15-68ae-4f01-a153-e8f1338efc1e
Cheers.
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprosecurity/thread/aa2f1c90-79a8-41ed-9d8e-44b4dfe61794
Here´s another one where MVPs and moderators discuss if it's W7 fault or not: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itpronetworking/thread/fc561f15-68ae-4f01-a153-e8f1338efc1e
Cheers.
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ASKER
No solutions provided have solved this issue. It remains on the Windows 7 workstations and we have no solutions as yet.
The dirty fix: Execute net use x: "\\SambaServer\drive password /user:user" on each start-up with a batch file in the startup folder.
Better fix: Go to UserAccounts and under Manage your credentials you enter your server's name, username and password
Cheers.