Users losing mapped drives 1

[goombawaho]

Here's the situation at a client I have. By the way, I'm more of a Novell guy, so pardon my ignorance on Microsoft server products.

Company has a SBS2003 server that has been there for a few years with 5 NEW Windows XP client computers. They have mapped drives that they are losing connections to. They say they never had the problem before the new computers (now take this with a grain of salt because they're users and they don't even remember if they had Win 2000 or XP before).

So, I find Microsoft KB article

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297684

and I decide that since only the clients have changed, I'll set the reg value mentioned only on the workstations. First off, is this the correct reg file for the workstation per the article for the maximum timeout value???

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanworkstation\parameters]
"KeepConn"=dword:0000ffff

If this doesn't work, I will change the server side of the equation, but I want to be sure. Should it be as follows?
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters]
"autodisconnect"=dword:ffffffff


I also found this Hot Fix.

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=812933

Any thoughts on applying this?? Maybe AFTER the first two regedits (client and server) don't work???

 

[ShackDaddy]

How many clients is the server licensed for? It could be that it's dropping connections due to too many clients compared to installed licenses. Especially if the old workstations that were removed are still using licenses! That's the first thing I would look at.

I don't think I'd set that KeepCon parameter to the maximum value. You also should remember that the default settings work for most network environments, and the default 600 seconds is what most people are working with, and having dropped connections is not normal. If changing the timeout from 10 minutes to 18 hours actually fixes the problem, it's a treatment for a problem that originated elsewhere. I would only change it to one hour, not 18, in any case.

That hotfix you listed at the end is absolutely not relevant unless you have that group policy enabled which hides and disables all desktop items, which is probably very unlikely. That sort of policy is more likely to be used on a kiosk or on a terminal server.



Dave Shackelford
MCSE, CCNA, Microsoft MVP: Exchange
Shackelford Consulting

 

[goombawaho]

There are only 5 workstations connected and only 5 have ever been in the past, although they were different computers (now gone/not connecting). Do you want to tell me what to look for in terms of licenses being used? And whats the big deal with cranking the disconnect time all the way, what would be the harm given such a small network???

I need help with this because the client is getting pissed that he's had serveral "geeks" in and nobody can figure it out. I know I can figure it out, but he may run out of patience or money before I get to the pure technical solution.

Regarding the "hide desktop" setting - I didn't read the whole thing before getting excited about the hotfix - my bad. Won't apply that then for sure.

 

[goombawaho]

Maybe I should mention that the users do NOT shut their PCs down at night. They don't log off either though I'm trying to convince them to at least lock their computer at night.

So, the disconnect timer issue might make more sense to you now. If they were shutting down or logging off each night, they would "refresh" their network mappings at login and it would mask this issue.

 

[goombawaho]

I think I have this figured out. Per Microsoft KB, the clients of the SBS must point to the SBS ip address for DNS. All but one client was pointing to the router ip address for DNS. The one that wasn't didn't have the problem. Switching the other PCs DNS fixed both the disconnection problem and a very long delay when the user profile was loading ("loading personal settings").

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;291382

 

[ShackDaddy]

Yep, that would do it. Since that is part of the basic setup requirements for an SBS network, I didn't even think it may not be set up. Without looking to the local server for DNS, all the queries that the clients make for group policies and authentication would be delayed or nixed.

Dave Shackelford
MCSE, CCNA, Microsoft MVP: Exchange
Shackelford Consulting

 

[goombawaho]

Let the record show that I did NOT set this SBS server up nor screw up the changes when they went from DSL to Cable internet. I just came along and had to fix all the bad stuff that had taken place with other IT people!!!

Once I got ShackDaddy's comment that the timeout setting shouldn't really be an issue on a "normal" network, I started to think that I was looking down the wrong road. So, big thanks to him for discouraging that line of investigation.