Desktop icon for NAS drive marked with big red X

[pokeefe0001]

How do I get Windows to remove a big red X on a NAS drive icon?

I have a desktop icon for a NAS drive. Occasionally when my PC wakes from being asleep, Windows marks the icon with a red X. (I assume the drive itself was asleep when Windows woke up so Windows thought it was unavailable. Just a guess.) By the time I check the device it is almost always available. I can get at the files, and bringing up the "Computer" window shows the device as available, but the X stays on the desktop icon. Rebooting fixes it. Deleting and recreating the icon fixes it. But both of these techniques are a pain.

Correction: Sometimes rebooting fixes it. I just rebooted. I still have the X, but the disk is accessible.

I live with the X, but I would really like to know how to make it go away. I don't know what a desktop "Refresh" is supposed to do, but it certainly doesn't remove the X.

By the way, I sometimes also loose the mapping for the device, but that is not what I am referring to here. In this case I am still able to access the drive via the mapped device letter. Only the icon has a problem (as near as I can tell).

 

[TVeblen]

The problem could be on the router side of things. You could try resetting (restarting) the router.

Could be a DNS problem. You could try running " ipconfig /flushdns " from a Command Prompt (Run as Administrator)

Or you could try giving the NAS a fixed IP address on your router.

 

[pokeefe0001]

I don't know how Windows determines whether or not a NAS drive is available. The router might be involved in the initial (presumptive) unavailability, but the drive being in sleep mode is more likely. I intentionally have power options on the drive allowing it to sleep.

However, that has nothing to do with my question. I want to know how to get Windows to remove the red X from the drive icon once Windows knows the device is available. I know Windows knows the device is available because it allows me to access files on the drive. And I know it is not just a mapping error because Windows allows me to access files using the drive letter.

To make this more confusing (to me), today Windows is not displaying the X. Windows has been asleep several times since it displayed the X, but I have not rebooted.

 

[TVeblen]

Ah. As a hardware guy, the internal workings of an OS just annoy me. Why does a programmer choose a certain method of detection and reporting? No idea!