Guides

There is an issue with network drives that are set to be mapped on startup, where windows attempts to map them before the network has been initialised properly.

A partial fix for this is to give the computer a static IP address, this works most of the time because it causes the network to be ready faster, but not always and may not be an option.

A better option is to make a scheduled task that runs when the network is available:

• Open Task Scheduler
• Action > Create Task
• General > Name > Reconnect Network Drives
• Triggers > New:
  • Begin the task > At log on > Any User
  • Delay task for > 30 seconds
• Actions > New:
  • Action > Start a program
  • Program/Script > cmd.exe
  • Add arguments:

/c "net use R: \\FileServer\Public &
net use S: \\FileServer\Documents &
net use T: \\FileServer\Photos &
net use U: \\FileServer\Music &
net use V: \\FileServer\Video &
net use W: \\FileServer\Software &
net use X: \\FileServer\Dereks Documents &
net use Y: \\FileServer\Downloads &
net use Z: \\FileServer\Dereks Backups"

• Conditions > Network:
  • Select Start only if the following network connections are available
  • Select Any Connection

Another issue is programs that are run as administrator don't have access to shares mapped as a user.

To work around this problem, configure the EnableLinkedConnections registry value. This value enables Windows to share network connections between the filtered access token and the full administrator access token for a member of the Administrators group.

Download and run the following file to make the change to the registry:

ShareNetworkShares.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"EnableLinkedConnections"=dword:00000001