Mapped drive connection to network share may be lost

This article provides solutions to an issue where the mapped drive may be disconnected if you map a drive to a network share.

Original product version: В Windows 7 Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2012 R2
Original KB number: В 297684

Symptoms

On a computer that runs Windows 7 Service Pack 1, if you map a drive to a network share, the mapped drive may be disconnected after a regular interval of inactivity, and Windows Explorer may display a red X on the icon of the mapped drive. However, if you try to access or browse the mapped drive, it reconnects quickly.

Cause

This behavior occurs because the systems can drop idle connections after a specified time-out period (by default, 15 minutes) to prevent wasting server resources on unused sessions. The connection can be re-established quickly, if necessary.

Resolution

To resolve this behavior, change the default time-out period on the shared network computer. To do this, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Using Registry Editor

If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Use Registry Editor to increase the default time-out period. To do this, follow these steps, and then quit Registry Editor:

You can’t use this method to turn off the autodisconnect feature of the Server service. You can only use this method to change the default time-out period for the autodisconnect feature.

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

Locate and then click the following key in the registry:

In the right pane, click the autodisconnect value, and then on the Edit menu, click Modify. If the autodisconnect value doesn’t exist, follow these steps:

1. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click REG_DWORD.
2. Type autodisconnect, and then press ENTER.

On the Edit menu, click Modify.

Click Hexadecimal.

In the Value data box, type ffffffff, and then click OK.

The client-side session is automatically disconnected when the idling time lasts more than the duration that is set in KeepConn. Therefore, the session is disconnected according to the shorter set duration value between AutoDisConnect and KeepConn. To change the time-out duration in the client-side during a UNC connection, specify the arbitrary time in KeepConn. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:

• Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanworkstation\parameters
• Value: KeepConn
• Data type: REG_DWORD
• Range: 1 to 65535 (sec)
• Default value: 600 sec = 10 mins

Method 2: Using Command line

If you use this method, you may turn off the autotuning feature for the Server service.

To change the default time-out period for the autodisconnect feature of the Server service, open a command prompt, type the following line, and then press ENTER:

where number is the number of minutes that you want the server to wait before it disconnects a mapped network drive. The maximum value for this command is 65,535.

If you set the autodisconnect value to 0 (zero), the autodisconnect feature is not turned off, and the Server service disconnects mapped network drives after only a few seconds of idle time.

To turn off the autodisconnect feature, open a command prompt, type the following line, and then press ENTER:

Did this fix the problem

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this section. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support.

More information

Some earlier programs may not save files or access data when the drive is disconnected. However, these programs function normally before the drive is disconnected.

For more information about how to increase the default time-out period, Server service configuration and tuning

A mapped network drive appears to be disconnected after you install or upgrade to Symantec AntiVirus 10.0 or to Symantec Client Security 3.0

This article provides a solution to an issue where mapped network drive is disconnected after you install or upgrade to Symantec AntiVirus 10.0 or to Symantec Client Security 3.0.

Original product version: В Windows 10 — all editions, Windows Server 2012 R2
Original KB number: В 932463

Symptoms

After you install or upgrade to Symantec AntiVirus 10.0 or to Symantec Client Security 3.0 on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer or on a Microsoft Windows XP-based computer, you receive the following message for a mapped network drive in Windows Explorer:

However, you can still access the contents of the mapped drive. Additionally, when you try to remove the mapped drive in Windows Explorer, you receive the following error message:

The network connection could not be found.

Cause

This problem occurs because of an issue in Symantec AntiVirus 10.0 and in Symantec Client Security 3.0.

Resolution

This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, see How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

To remove the incorrectly labeled mapped drive, follow these steps:

Click Start, point to Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

In Registry Editor, locate the following registry subkey: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2

Right-click the mapped drive that you want to remove. For example, right-click ##Server_Name#Share_Name, and then click Delete.

Replace the Server_Name placeholder with the name of the server that hosts the mapped network drive. Replace the Share_Name placeholder with the name of the mapped network drive.

More information

Third-party information disclaimer

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.

Unable to disconnect from mapped network drive

I receive the following error when I try to disconnect from a self mapped network drive: «network connection does not exist»

The network drive icon appears with a bid red x and says it is disconnected, yet I can double click on it to enter the mapped folder. Doing this does not reconnect the folder, and remains disconnected. This causes problems because programs that pointed to this path are unable to read the files. I am unable to remap this drive because the associated drive letter (E:) and mapping no longer shows up in the list.

I’ve tried all the typical suggestions including:

—I tried to do it via the command prompt with the net use delete command, but it can’t be found in there.

—Tried to above with the actual network path instead of the drive letter, did not work

—Tried to delete the registry entries from:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2
HKEY_USERS\. Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Mountpoint2\

None of these solutions worked. Though deleting the registry entries momentarily hid the disconnected drive, the drive letter was still not available for mapping. I tried to force the drive letter (E:) to map to my optical drive, which worryingly, pointed back to the mapped network location on the NAS instead of to the optical drive.

How do I get rid of this? Reformatting the computer is not an option.

Windows disconnect network mapping

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Answered by:

Question

I have windows 7 Ult.

I have been going thru the forums and trying several ways to disconnect the drive mappings that show with a red X and say Disconnected Network Drive but I can access the connection and open files, edit files, delete files, and save files as one would normally expect but I have no way of disconnecting the drive mapping. I have the same path remapped to a different drive letter without any problems. I have tried the command prompt net use X: /Delete and get the error message «The Network connection could not be found. More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2250.» and I have tried the suggestions in Article 297684 even downloading the msi and doing it manually. I have even tried Zorn’s little program and that didn’t help. Is there a solution to this Microsoft glitch?

Answers

This may do it.
Look for a registry entry for the mapping under
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2]

Note a mapping to \\Eblaptop\F (for example) will show a registry subkey named as ##Eblaptop#F
If found, delete that key and then log off and back on or reboot and it should be gone.
(As always be careful when editing the registry.)

Please advise how this works out for you. I have done this successfully (in XP and Vista) though in those cases the ‘stuck’ mapping was not actually connecting.
—

«IT-TAZ» wrote in message news:1f22d98f-e150-4a54-9967-1641fa86dbc5@communitybridge.codeplex.com.

I have been going thru the forums and trying several ways to disconnect the drive mappings that show with a red X and say Disconnected Network Drive but I can access the connection and open files, edit files, delete files, and save files as one would normally expect but I have no way of disconnecting the drive mapping. I have the same path remapped to a different drive letter without any problems. I have tried the command prompt net use X: /Delete and get the error message «The Network connection could not be found. More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2250.» and I have tried the suggestions in Article 297684 even downloading the msi and doing it manually. I have even tried Zorn’s little program and that didn’t help. Is there a solution to this Microsoft glitch?

How to fix mapped network drive problems on Windows 10 October 2018 Update

Just when you thought the mess with the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809) was over, bugs are still a headache for many users.

This time, a number of users have reported that after upgrading to version 1809, mapped network drives appear broken with a red «X» as if they were disconnected. Trying to map drives using the net use command show up as «Unavailable,» and notifications pop with the «Could not reconnect all network drives» message.

Although trying to access the drives will still work, the problem is causing a lot of confusion among users, especially in environments managed by network administrators.

The drive mapping issue isn’t new, it was discovered shortly after the feature update was originally released, but even after pulling it offline due to data loss and other issues, the bug is still part of Windows 10.

While Microsoft is aware of the problem, a permanent fix isn’t expected until sometime in 2019. However, in the meantime, the company is offering a workaround to mitigate the bug.

In this Windows 10 guide, we’ll walk you through the steps prevent mapped network drives problems after upgrading to the October 2018 Update.

How to fix mapped network drives problem on Windows 10

You can resolve the mapped network drives problem by creating and running two scripts either using the StartUp folder or running a task when the user signs into their account. If you’re in an Active Directory domain, Microsoft also suggests reconfiguring the Group Policy settings.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to deal with this issue, you can also defer this feature update until a permanent fix becomes available.

Creating the scripts

Use the instructions outlined below to create the required scripts.

Creating the Command Prompt script

To create the Command Prompt script, use the following steps:

Open Notepad.

Copy and paste the following script in the text file:

Click the File menu, and select the Save As option.

Save the file using this name and extension: MapDrives.cmd.

Creating the PowerShell script

To create the PowerShell script, use the following steps:

1. Open Notepad.
2. Copy and paste the following script in the text file:

1. Click the File menu, and select the Save As option.
2. Save the file using this name and extension: MapDrives.ps1.

Method 1: Run scripts using StartUp folder

After creating the Command Prompt and PowerShell command, you can use the following steps keep the mapped network drives connected:

Important: The following steps will only work if the device is connected to the network at login.

Open File Explorer.

Browse to the following location:

In the «StartUp» folder, copy the MapDrives.cmd file.

Browse to the following location:

Quick Tip: If you don’t have the Scripts folder, open the C drive with File Explorer, and use the Ctrl + Shift + N keyboard shortcut to create a new folder, and name it «Scripts».

In the «Scripts» folder, copy the MapDrives.ps1 file.

Once you’ve completed the steps, sign out and sign back into the account, and now the mapped drives should appear in File Explorer without problems.

In addition, the scripts will create a StartupLog.text file in the %TEMP% folder with log information about the process.

Method 2: Run scripts using Task Scheduler

Alternatively, you can use the Task Scheduler to create a task to reconnect the mapped network drive during login with these steps:

Open File Explorer.

Browse to the following location:

Quick Tip: If you don’t have the Scripts folder, open the C drive with File Explorer, and use the Ctrl + Shift + N keyboard shortcut to create a new folder, and name it «Scripts».

In the «Scripts» folder, copy the MapDrives.ps1 file.

Select the Create Task option.

Click the Change User or Group button.

Select a local user or group. For example, Users.

Select the Run with highest privileges option.

Use the «Begin the task» drop-down menu, and select the At log on option.

In the «Program/script box,» type the following:

In the Add arguments (optional) box, type the following command:

-windowsstyle hidden -command .\MapDrives.ps1 >> %TEMP%\StartupLog.txt 2>&1

In the Start in (optional) box, type the location of the script file:

Click the OK button.

Select the Any connection option.

Click the OK button.

After completing the steps, sign out and sign back into the account, and now the mapped drives should appear in File Explorer without problems.

Method 3: Update Group Policy settings

If you’re a network administrator running an Active Directory domain, and you’re using Group Policy to push settings to devices, Microsoft recommends editing the Group Policy Object (GPO) to map the drive and update its action to Replace.

Using the «Replace» option will delete the mapped drives, and it’ll recreate them again when the user signs back in to the account.

Once you’ve completed the steps, make sure to restart the device, and a sign in again to verify that the mapped drives no longer appear disconnected in File Explorer.

Method 4: Defer the October 2018 Update

Alternatively, if you’ve not installed the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, you can avoid this and other problems configuring the device to defer this feature update until there’s a permanent solution.

You can learn the steps to defer updates up to 16 months using these steps.

More Windows 10 resources

For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

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