Mapped network drives are lost

[PeterKing]

I have a problem with mapped network drives disconnecting.
I run Win7 Pro connecting to Win Server 2003. Reboot and the drives are there. After a while a red cross appears against them in Explorer. I can usually see the contents, but running a program that requires those resources fails.
The only way I can reconnect is to reboot, but then the red cross appears again after a while.
I've updated the LAN driver and even tried setting the registry key MaxNonpagedMemoryUsage to 0xFFFFFFFF as recommended in the only comment on the subject I've been able to find.
I'd really appreciate some help here as I don't want to go back to XP!
Thanks to anyone with ideas.......

 

[Nyx1962]

I have the same problem although it seems to be limited to one particular server running Windows Server 2003. I have 5 PC's out of 50 that are running Windows 7 professional, all the rest are running XP Pro and all in the same domain. Only the Win 7 pc's have this random problem of the mapped drives and printers (also shared from that server) disconnecting.

I've also tried adding the value to the registery to see if it helps but too soon to tell yet.

 

[TimStitt]

I few thoughts:

In XP you could change the default timeout period in lanmanserver. I'll try to find more info and post it up.

Also a workaround might be a quick batchfile that uses the 'net use' command to delete and remap the drive prior to your program running. Not ideal, but a solution that I have used in the past. Something like...
----------------------
Net Use M: /DELETE
Net use M:\\MEDIA\apps
M:\\MEDIA\apps\program.exe
----------------------

 

[TimStitt]

Here's an XP/Server2003 link for Nyx1962. Mapped Drive Connection to Network Share May Be Lost
It also suggests 'net config server /autodisconnect:number' - so i've learnt something too

PeterKing, It looks like the Vista registry is a little different, I'm still investigating. But take a look at the 'net use' or 'net congfig' options.

EDIT - From the XP article, I'm testing this command now to see if it times out, so far so good.

To turn off the autodisconnect feature, open an ADMIN command prompt, type the following line, and then press ENTER:
net config server /autodisconnect:-1

 

[PeterKing]

I've found out what was causing it. A screen capture utility called Snagit had installed an add-in to Outlook. When I uninstalled it the problem went away. The publisher Techsmith seem to know that there's a problem but have no fix other than uninstallation.
I've still had the diconnection occur a couple of times since at random times, so I still think there's something we don't understand, but a least it's once in a while and I can live with that.
Thanks for the interest and suggestions.

 

[TimStitt]

I've found out what was causing it. A screen capture utility called Snagit had installed an add-in to Outlook. When I uninstalled it the problem went away. The publisher Techsmith seem to know that there's a problem but have no fix other than uninstallation.
I've still had the diconnection occur a couple of times since at random times, so I still think there's something we don't understand, but a least it's once in a while and I can live with that.
Thanks for the interest and suggestions.

I'm glad you got it sorted!

 

[jimmyv4351]

Here's an XP/Server2003 link for Nyx1962. Mapped Drive Connection to Network Share May Be Lost
It also suggests 'net config server /autodisconnect:number' - so i've learnt something too

PeterKing, It looks like the Vista registry is a little different, I'm still investigating. But take a look at the 'net use' or 'net congfig' options.

EDIT - From the XP article, I'm testing this command now to see if it times out, so far so good.

To turn off the autodisconnect feature, open an ADMIN command prompt, type the following line, and then press ENTER:
net config server /autodisconnect:-1

I've been having a similar problem with Office doing a 'Program Not Responding' because the system while in VPN would 'forget' my mapped drives and printer share after awhile. This looks like it might work - I'll try it. Thanks.