WinXP PC loses connection to the mapped Network Drive S:\

[Felix Monclova]

Problem:

After one or two hours, the WinXP PC I'm using loses
connection to the mapped Network Drive S:\ which points to
a shared folder, called the "Data" folder, on a Windows
2000 Server with Terminal Service running.
__________________________________________________________
Error Symptom:

An error has occurred while reconnecting S: to
\\SERVER_NAME\SHARE

Microsoft Windows Network: The local device name is
already in use. This connection has not been restored.

__________________________________________________________
Configuration Info:

WinXP:


1. Static IP and DNS being used. I did this to eliminate
DHCP possible issue.
2. Used the My Computer, & Right Click to select & set up
the Mapped Drive.
3. Used S:\ Letter to point to a shared folder
called "Data" on the Win 2k Server with Terminal services
running.
4. On WinXP PC using only one S:\ letter. No other mapped
drives are called S:\. No Dups.
5. Checked on PC Names, and no PC Names or Server Names
are duplicated.
6. I read note below and set NetBIOS to be enabled all the
time. And this did not solve the problem.


Windows 2000 Terminal Server:

1. Using static IP address and DNS.
2. Folder Share name is Data
3. The Shared folder is not on the Authenticating Domain
Server.
4. I do have a Domain Server running this is not a
Workgroup configuration.
5. DHCP Client Service is automatic and running on the
TERMINAL SERVER.


DHCP:

1. Configured to be handled by 3COM Gateway Router. Not
served off the Win2k Server.
2. I have 20 WinXP PCs that are configured with static IP
addressing and all have the Mapped S:\, and are all
exhibiting the same problem of losing connection to the
S:\ Drive with in 2 hours after reboot or logging into the
PC.

__________________________________________________________
Quick Fixes I have tried:

1. I can log out or reboot the PC and it reestablishes the
connection to the Mapped Drive S:\ for about an hour and
the connection is lost again.
2. Enabled NETBIOS to be enabled all the time in WIN
properties. This did not work.
3. Setup all WinXP pcs on Static IP addresses to see if
this would eliminate problem.

__________________________________________________________
Question:

How can I keep my mapped network drives from disconnecting
after being connected for at least an hour?? Thanks in
advance.

Felix Monclova

__________________________________________________________
Note: I found this fix on Community Newsgroup and it did
not work.

-----Original Message-----
If anyone can offer any suggestions for a problem I'm having, it would
be greatly appreciated....

Our small business has a network with a a server running Win 2000
Server version, and we have 5 workstations, each running WinXP Pro. We
have a router for our LAN as well. Lately, our workstations have been
loosing connections with the mapped network drives on the server. One
suggestion I found was to increase the value of the autodisconnect
function in the windows registry file. It doesn't seem to be working,
although I only changed it recently. When the connections get lost,
opening up "My Computer" will show a red X on the network drives, and
double-clicking on them does nothing. For now, I simply reboot the
server and log back in & out of the workstations. Our tech support guy
reccomended installing a domain controller on the server. Even though
our network is setup as a Workgroup, I would think that having updated
all workstations to XP Pro would help to avoid this problem. If anyone
can provide suggestions about similar experiences, I would be
grateful!

Thanks,
Tom
.

Bcode's Reply

You might try:

On the XP Machine, go into
- Control Panel -> Network Connections.
- Get properties on your Local Area Connection.
- Click on the TCP/IP protocol, and get properties on
that.
- Click the "Advanced..." button on the General Tab.
- Goto "WINS" tab, and put the dot in "Enable NetBIOS
over TCP/IP."

Your 2000 Server has NetBIOS enabled by default, but XP
only enables it
when the DHCP server tells them to. But I would assume
that your router is
your DHCP server, not your 2000 Server box. Enabling this
should solidify
your network connections overall.

I hope this is of some help.

bcode.

 

[Larry Stotler]

Felix,

This is the autodisconnect on the server disconnecting you after a set
period of time. You can extend this time almost indefinately by modifying
the "autodisconnect" registry value. I would reccomend setting this value
to 65535. This will cause the autodissconnect to not kick in for 45 days.
However, the downside to this is that it will not autodisconnect any
connections. You will need to watch the server to make sure that sockets
are not being used up. You can run a "netstat -an" to see how many Active
Connections you have.

The autodisconnect value is located at
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters.

138365 How Autodisconnect Works in Windows NT and Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=138365


Larry Stotler, MCSE
Microsoft Product Support

NOTE: Please reply to the newsgroup and not directly to me. This allows
others to add to and benefit from these threads and also helps to ensure a
more timely response. Thank you!

This posting is provided "AS IS" without warranty either expressed or
implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose