The Local Device Name is Already In Use Sonicwall SSL VPN, netextender, can't browse network

Hi bmbiss14,

What version of SSL-VPN client are you running?
Are you in Tunnel All mode?
What routes do you have setup?

The error "Local device name is already in use" simply means that you are trying to map a network connection with a drive letter that already is assigned to some local device.

Does rebooting and then testing temporarily solve it?

You need to have your network administrator see what drive letters are trying to be mapped, which local device already has one of those letters assigned, and give it a different local drive letter.

Is the computer also trying to run a logon script that would make a network connection for one that is already there?

For example, if a drive letter is mapped through the Windows Explorer, and then the same drive letter is trying to be mapped through a logon script, you can get the same error.

Also check the logon scripts within the SonicWALL and/or the NetExtender client...they are set as batch scripts.

An easy way to test this out and hopefully solve the problem (assuming you have a login script running) is to:

Let me know how it goes!

Thanks for the quick follow up diverseit. Buckle up!!

FYI, we never had any of these issues with our old TZ180 IPsec VPN.

These are all individual laptops running Windows 7 64-BIT Pro. They are not apart of a domain. They just plug in via Ethernet when they are in the office and browse to the network share drive on a server running SMB2008. We don't really use the server, it's mainly just a file server.

Netextender version: 7.0.196 (we were on a version of 6 and I updated hoping it would fix the issue, it did not) When the remote users access the VPN, they startup netextender on their machines and login. Then they browse via the drive as they usually do in the office.

SSL VPN router is to our XO (LAN) subnet interface.

Initially we did not have tunneling all enabled. I enabled it to test, it did not fix the issue.

We do not run any custom scripts on login. However, by default netextender runs it's batch scripts automatically. I disabled them and it did not fix the issue.

Our drive (r:) and is always present under my computer. I map them manually. When they users are in the office it works with no issues at all when they are on the local LAN. This error only occurs when they attempt to access the drive via SSL VPN. Just to clarify, they can connect and can work, but when they upload a certain size file we can repeat the error every time. The upload file size is 15MB. We never had this problem with the tz180 IPsec. Just as a double check, we removed all drive info, also from the registry, and tried to browse by manually entering the drive path window explorer and the it did not fix the issue. Again, there were no drives mapped on the machine, but we still received the error. We also installed netexender on a brand new pc and we receive the same issue when uploading a file to the server.

We have tried remapping the drive with a different letter as well, this did not fix the issue.

Also, I ran a continuous ping to the server and when the windows alert "local device name already in use" pops up, the ping says "request time out". No events show in the Netextender log, the user must disconnect and reconnect via netextender to get back on the server.

Just to clarify, The error we are receiving is the same error we get if we are not connected to the network at all. This seems to be backing up the theory that we are losing the connection to server, shown by the status time out via ping.

What do you mean by this? Is this to say that when there is no Internet connection and you try to connect the VPN-SSL you get this error?

.

To clarifty, if I turn on my machine without connecting the internet and without starting the ssl vpn client, my mapped drive shows a red x. When I click on the mapped drive it pops up with that error. It DOES NOT say something like, you are not connected to internet, which I would expect. Instead it gives me the local device name is in use. I already tried removing old names via net use and clean boot mode. Did not fix the issue.

-Thanks..

I really don't think it has anything to do with drive names in use to be honest. I have tried it with no drives at all on a fresh machine and I get the error. I am leaning towards and MTU issue. However, on the NSA2400 we have fragment packets enabled and the default mtu is 1500. We DO NOT have "do not fragment" checked in the NSA2400. If it is an MTU setting, why didn't we have this issue with IPsec? We can answer that later FYI, I need to fix this asap.

The other thing that bothers me, if it is the MTU, do I need to adjust it for every user on every machine or should I reduce the MTU size via the NSA SSL VPN settings and that should fix the problem globally?

I just lowered the MTU setting on the NSA device and on the remote clients network interfaces to 1492 (per Verizon FIOS recommendations) and it did not fix the error.

RE: MTU it is done on the SonicWALL WAN setting....that does the rest. Ideally you would want to the the entire network...but that gets ridiculous and the overall gain is not worth it so when people talk about MTU it's specifically on the WAN which will pass that through the VPN etc. Follow this article to get the exact MTU setting its the only way to do it...you can't always solely rely on a type of connection warrants x method. Again, here is the guide: http:/A_12615-Unstable-Slow-Performing-Networks-or-VPNs-just-go-grocery-shopping.html

When I suggested MTU it was specifically when you said "Local Device Name Is Already In Use. Then the user can no longer browse the server." I was not saying necessarily that it would resolve your drive letter issue as that is different.

Did you run the command?

Did you try Clean Boot?

I tried adjusting the MTU, at no point do we lose packets. Packet loss is always 0%.

OK good!

Did you run the command?

Did you try Clean Boot?

Tried both, did not resolve the issue.

I should mention again, I tried this on a fresh os install machine and I get the same issue on 3 separate laptops.

This is bizarre and to clarify all are not on a domain? These fresh OS installs have nothing configured...straight windows defaults?

What AV are you using?

Does this occur in Safe Mode with Networking?

AV is Microsoft security essentials. Have not tried it in safe mode with networking. Here is the kicker, we have been using IPsec via a TZ180 for 4.5 years. We just swapped out the units and went to SSL, now this. Very strange. I dont' know what else to do here.

Here is another tidbit, the NSA2400 doesn't always show the person being disconnected.
I will refresh in my user log and it says they are connected even though they are not.

firmware for a hale mary?

In my second paragraph in comment (http:#a39781873) I said make sure the SonicOS is current.

What firmware version are you running? If available update it and re-test. If the problem still persists we should open a bug report possible with SonicWALL as this is not normal...I have tons of clients running SSL-VPN all day long with no issues.

A feasible workaround might be to setup VPN client via GVC. It is stable and establishes a VPN connection. There is really no difference in function except with dealing with Macs.

Let me know how if goes!

Quick question...what does this command do?

net use * /delete
net use /persistent:no

The fist line command removes all mapped drives and devices. There are two kinds of device names: disk drives (that is, D: through Z:) and printers (that is, LPT1: through LPT3:). The asterisk (*) is used instead of a specific device name to remove the next available device name (basically it's a wildcard). You can shorten this switch to /d if you like.

The second line command controls the persistence of connections created with the net use command. Choosing "no" limits the life of this connection to this session. You can shorten this switch to /p if you like.

Very quick help and he gave me a lot of options to help resolve the issue. It ended up being the firmware in the end. Thanks for your help and persistence.

I'm glad I could help...thanks for the points!