Establish system network connection before login.

[Travis Montgomery]

Hi,

Is there a way on NT and 2000 machines to establish a network connection
before a user logs in locally? We have a server on which we need to set
up an OBDC data source that resides on a remote share. The source has
to be set up on this machine as it is running a bridge which allows a
Linux ColdFusion server to access the data source. If we log in as a
user and map a drive it works fine. Problem is we don't want to leave a
user logged in, we also can't move the database to a local share (long
story). Is there a service available that we can set to establish the
connection?

Thanks,

Travis

 

[Doug Sherman [MVP]]

Use Group Policy to configure a Startup script to map the drive - Computer
Configuration/Windows Settings/Scripts.

Doug Sherman
MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

 

[Travis Montgomery]

Use Group Policy to configure a Startup script to map the drive - Computer
Configuration/Windows Settings/Scripts.

Thanks Doug! Could you give me more specific instructions, especially
as far as writing the script itself? I know I use gpedit.msc for W2k
but where do I modify startup scrips in NT?

Thanks again,

Travis

 

[Doug Sherman [MVP]]

If you are just mapping a drive, the script would be:

NET USE [driveletter:] \\server\share
However, you may have to supply user credentials:

NET USE [driveletter:] \\server\share /user:domain\user password

Create the file with NotePad and save it with a .bat extention.

Easiest way to run a startup script in NT 4.0 is probably to list it in the
Autoexnt.bat file. If your NT machines do not have this file, or it is not
running, download NT 4.0 Resource Kit Supplement 4. You could do this in
Windows 2000 as well, but Group Policy is probably easier - see:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;243486

Doug Sherman

MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

 

[Travis Montgomery]

If you are just mapping a drive, the script would be:

NET USE [driveletter:] \\server\share
However, you may have to supply user credentials:

NET USE [driveletter:] \\server\share /user:domain\user password

Create the file with NotePad and save it with a .bat extention.

Doug,

This is exactly what I tried (guess right w/ a little help from the
docs) but it didn't seem to work. Cold fusion couldn't hit the data
source and when I logged in there was no drive mapping. When I
re-mapped the drive it all worked fine.

I know the .bat file works cause when I double click it maps the drive
perfectly, even when logged in as a user with no rights to the share.
Any other thoughts?

Thanks,

Travis

 

[Doug Sherman [MVP]]

Try \\<IPaddressofserver>\sharename.

Doug Sherman
MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

If you are just mapping a drive, the script would be:

NET USE [driveletter:] \\server\share
However, you may have to supply user credentials:

NET USE [driveletter:] \\server\share /user:domain\user password

Create the file with NotePad and save it with a .bat extention.

Doug,

This is exactly what I tried (guess right w/ a little help from the
docs) but it didn't seem to work. Cold fusion couldn't hit the data
source and when I logged in there was no drive mapping. When I
re-mapped the drive it all worked fine.

I know the .bat file works cause when I double click it maps the drive
perfectly, even when logged in as a user with no rights to the share.
Any other thoughts?

Thanks,

Travis

--
Travis Montgomery
Network Administrator
School of Nursing - UNC-CH
(e-mail address removed)