Windows behaviour when a drive is unmapped: MS vs Novell

[Vsevolod Afanassiev]

We have program (let's call it OF) that from time to time "crashes" on
user's machines (typically at a point when it needs to read a data
file).
During such "crash" it simply disappears, all windows close,
no error message is produced, no entries in the Event Log.
For most users this is the only program
that is running from a shared drive (V: drive, on Windows2000 server),
i.e. executables
are located on this drive (although 4 DLL files are on C. Note
that after such crash V: drive is still available.

Trying to re-produce the error I decided to check how
this program will behave if a drive is unmapped.
So I started this program, unmapped V: drive,
and tried to read a file. It crashed exactly as
users described: no error message, the window just disappeared.

Then I installed another copy of the same program on F: drive
which is Novell-based, and repeated the test. The result
was completely different: it did NOT crash.

Finally, I repeated the test using Adobe Acrobat instead
of OF: the result was the same: when Acrobat is installed on
Windows2000-based drive (V and this drive is unmapped it crashes
when opening a PDF file while when it is installed on a Novell-based
drive it does not.

Any explanation???

 

[Richard McCall [MSFT]]

Either change the working directory to the local machine or change to Idle
Disconnect on the server the V: drive is connected to.
You can check it by using the by typing Net Config Server in a command
window.
138365 How Autodisconnect Works in Windows NT and Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=138365