network problems...any ideas?

benjz

hi everybody!

i know all the people here has a strong background with networks, just want to ask one question regarding networks,

we have a couple of shared drives over the networks but when the computers leave unattended or i leave it for a couple of minutes(e.g. 30 minutes) then i look my computer windows, all the shared drives was marked disconnected. in order to restore it, i need to refresh all of it.
Anyone who can give me an idea with this problem?thanks in advance!=)

benjz

Non-Profit Techie

hmmm not sure. i would probably start by looking at the computers power settings since you said it happens after you leave it for a while, perhaps the computer are powering down to much, perhaps you have a "ask for password when screen saver comes on " setting in netware or something to that effect.

If that doesnt do it then i would probably check the protocols you are running......

dont know for sure.

wirerat

take a look at these. maybe one of them will help:

Why some mapped network drives show a red x

1) SYMPTOMS: You find that the network drive mapping may be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity and Windows Explorer may display a red "X" on the icon of the mapped drive. However, if you double-click it reconnects quickly.

RESOLUTION: by default, idle connections will be dropped after 15 minutes. To modify idle time, at a command prompt using net config server /autodisconnect: minutes. For example, to set the Autodisconnect value to 30 minutes, you would run the following command line: net config server /autodisconnect:30. If you would like to turn Autodisconnect off, do net config server /autodisconnect:-1.


2) http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;318370

3) Automatic Disconnection of Mapped Drives
Sometimes, when a user opens My Computer or Windows Explorer, a red X appears on the mapped drive's icon, indicating that the drive isn't available. Windows automatically disconnects mapped drives after a period of inactivity (the default interval is 15 minutes) and displays a red X on the drive's icon. When that happens, clicking the icon or entering the drive letter followed by a colon (:) at the command prompt automatically reconnects the drive. But the red X also appears if the computer that holds the mapped share isn't available for some reason, in which case these steps don't work. Because users can't tell why the red X appears, they often call the Help desk.

You could cut down on those Help desk calls if you could disable the automatic disconnection of mapped drives so that users see a red X only when a remote computer is down. The Autodisconnect registry value controls the automatic disconnect. According to Microsoft, you can disable this function by setting Autodisconnect to -1. However, the registry won't let you enter a minus sign for this value. Some Microsoft support technicians suggest entering

net config server /autodisconnect:-1
at a command prompt. Although this command appears to enter a value of -1 for the Autodisconnect registry value, it actually changes the value to the maximum supported value, which is 4,294,967,295 minutes (more than 8000 years) for Win2K Professional and 65,535 minutes (more than 45 days) for Win2K Server. Both values are large enough to effectively disable the autodisconnect function. However, the Net Config command also changes two other subkey values, and these additional changes (which affect browser announcement schedules) might cause other problems.

Some administrators try changing the Autodisconnect value to 0. However, a 0 value doesn't prevent automatic disconnection of mapped drives. Rather, this value has the effect of disconnecting drives erratically and often quite quickly.

The best approach is to explicitly set Autodisconnect to the maximum supported value. Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe) on the computer that holds the share (not the remote computer that maps the share). Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters subkey, and double-click the Autodisconnect registry value. If the computer on which the share resides is a Win2K Pro workstation, enter a new decimal value of 4294967295 or a new hexadecimal value of ffffffff. If the computer is a Win2K server, enter a new decimal value of 65535 or a hex value of 0xffff.

Ricka182

Good information there.

benjz

thanks for the helpful information, appreciated!

Non-Profit Techie

interesting. thanks for teaching us something new i will have to try that.

benjz

wirerat wrote:

take a look at these. maybe one of them will help:

Why some mapped network drives show a red x

1) SYMPTOMS: You find that the network drive mapping may be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity and Windows Explorer may display a red "X" on the icon of the mapped drive. However, if you double-click it reconnects quickly.

RESOLUTION: by default, idle connections will be dropped after 15 minutes. To modify idle time, at a command prompt using net config server /autodisconnect: minutes. For example, to set the Autodisconnect value to 30 minutes, you would run the following command line: net config server /autodisconnect:30. If you would like to turn Autodisconnect off, do net config server /autodisconnect:-1.


2) http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;318370

3) Automatic Disconnection of Mapped Drives
Sometimes, when a user opens My Computer or Windows Explorer, a red X appears on the mapped drive's icon, indicating that the drive isn't available. Windows automatically disconnects mapped drives after a period of inactivity (the default interval is 15 minutes) and displays a red X on the drive's icon. When that happens, clicking the icon or entering the drive letter followed by a colon (:) at the command prompt automatically reconnects the drive. But the red X also appears if the computer that holds the mapped share isn't available for some reason, in which case these steps don't work. Because users can't tell why the red X appears, they often call the Help desk.

You could cut down on those Help desk calls if you could disable the automatic disconnection of mapped drives so that users see a red X only when a remote computer is down. The Autodisconnect registry value controls the automatic disconnect. According to Microsoft, you can disable this function by setting Autodisconnect to -1. However, the registry won't let you enter a minus sign for this value. Some Microsoft support technicians suggest entering

net config server /autodisconnect:-1
at a command prompt. Although this command appears to enter a value of -1 for the Autodisconnect registry value, it actually changes the value to the maximum supported value, which is 4,294,967,295 minutes (more than 8000 years) for Win2K Professional and 65,535 minutes (more than 45 days) for Win2K Server. Both values are large enough to effectively disable the autodisconnect function. However, the Net Config command also changes two other subkey values, and these additional changes (which affect browser announcement schedules) might cause other problems.

Some administrators try changing the Autodisconnect value to 0. However, a 0 value doesn't prevent automatic disconnection of mapped drives. Rather, this value has the effect of disconnecting drives erratically and often quite quickly.

The best approach is to explicitly set Autodisconnect to the maximum supported value. Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe) on the computer that holds the share (not the remote computer that maps the share). Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters subkey, and double-click the Autodisconnect registry value. If the computer on which the share resides is a Win2K Pro workstation, enter a new decimal value of 4294967295 or a new hexadecimal value of ffffffff. If the computer is a Win2K server, enter a new decimal value of 65535 or a hex value of 0xffff.

hi again!

what if my computer that holds a shared folder was running WIN nt? should i used the same values in the registry? thanks again...

benjz

wirerat wrote:

take a look at these. maybe one of them will help:

Why some mapped network drives show a red x

1) SYMPTOMS: You find that the network drive mapping may be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity and Windows Explorer may display a red "X" on the icon of the mapped drive. However, if you double-click it reconnects quickly.

RESOLUTION: by default, idle connections will be dropped after 15 minutes. To modify idle time, at a command prompt using net config server /autodisconnect: minutes. For example, to set the Autodisconnect value to 30 minutes, you would run the following command line: net config server /autodisconnect:30. If you would like to turn Autodisconnect off, do net config server /autodisconnect:-1.


2) http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;318370

3) Automatic Disconnection of Mapped Drives
Sometimes, when a user opens My Computer or Windows Explorer, a red X appears on the mapped drive's icon, indicating that the drive isn't available. Windows automatically disconnects mapped drives after a period of inactivity (the default interval is 15 minutes) and displays a red X on the drive's icon. When that happens, clicking the icon or entering the drive letter followed by a colon (:) at the command prompt automatically reconnects the drive. But the red X also appears if the computer that holds the mapped share isn't available for some reason, in which case these steps don't work. Because users can't tell why the red X appears, they often call the Help desk.

You could cut down on those Help desk calls if you could disable the automatic disconnection of mapped drives so that users see a red X only when a remote computer is down. The Autodisconnect registry value controls the automatic disconnect. According to Microsoft, you can disable this function by setting Autodisconnect to -1. However, the registry won't let you enter a minus sign for this value. Some Microsoft support technicians suggest entering

net config server /autodisconnect:-1
at a command prompt. Although this command appears to enter a value of -1 for the Autodisconnect registry value, it actually changes the value to the maximum supported value, which is 4,294,967,295 minutes (more than 8000 years) for Win2K Professional and 65,535 minutes (more than 45 days) for Win2K Server. Both values are large enough to effectively disable the autodisconnect function. However, the Net Config command also changes two other subkey values, and these additional changes (which affect browser announcement schedules) might cause other problems.

Some administrators try changing the Autodisconnect value to 0. However, a 0 value doesn't prevent automatic disconnection of mapped drives. Rather, this value has the effect of disconnecting drives erratically and often quite quickly.

The best approach is to explicitly set Autodisconnect to the maximum supported value. Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe) on the computer that holds the share (not the remote computer that maps the share). Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters subkey, and double-click the Autodisconnect registry value. If the computer on which the share resides is a Win2K Pro workstation, enter a new decimal value of 4294967295 or a new hexadecimal value of ffffffff. If the computer is a Win2K server, enter a new decimal value of 65535 or a hex value of 0xffff.

hi again!

what if my computer that holds a shared folder was running WIN nt? should i used the same values in the registry? thanks again...