Red x's on network mapped drives, services not started

[joeltrettin]

We have a handful of users on our Windows 2000 Server network domain with Windows XP Pro workstations. They are using local profiles (still working on the roaming stuff). Recently we have had almost all of the XP Pro PCs have a problem with connecting the network mapped drives. They all have red x's through them. I checked Services and most of the Automatic services related to networking are not started. I start them and the drives reconnect. The Event Log shows several entries on bootup related to network services not starting (event id: 7000 listed many times with a description of "pipe state is invalid&quot. I've tried reinstalling the networking (TCP, client for MS) but that hasn't helped. It only seems to do it intermittantly but always on bootup. Another solution is to reboot a bunch of times and then the drives connect themselves. Any ideas out there? I'm stumped.

 

[bcastner]

See my discussion here faq779-4017

In particular you want to enforce synchronous processing of the logon.

 

[joeltrettin]

Thanks for the tip - I kind of suspected something in the Group Policy. I switched the Synchronous Logon to enabled to we'll see how that goes. After reading the FAQ it mentions enabling the item "Always Wait for Network..." but I don't see an entry like that under Admin Templates/System/Logon.

 

[bcastner]

The policy "Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon" is found:

Computer Configuration
Administrative Templates
System
Logon

This is a preferred setting than forcing synchronous processing of the logon.

If you enable both, your logon will surely be fairly slow. Just enable the GP for "Always wait..."

 

[joeltrettin]

OK I think I figured out the issue. I was adjusting the Group Policy on the Domain Controller and not the local XP workstation (the Always Wait...doesn't exist on the domain controller). I loaded MMC and added the Group Policy snap-in and found the "Always Wait..." setting. I enabled it as you suggested. I also changed the "Synchronous Logon" setting back on the Domain Controller. I'm going to go reboot a few XP PCs and see if I can make it fail. Thanks again.

 

[bcastner]

Be aware of the credentials issues that can play a role. If the mapped drives are done using alternate credentials they may not be restored at logon:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;283492