Extremely Strange Mapped Drive Error

Hi Guys,

I am having a very strange issue with a mapped drive and was wondering if anybody had accounted it before or knew what might be causing the problem. The problem i am having is this.

I have a new machine i have put together, its a Windows 2003 machine running as a terminal server called TST01. It is connected to our work domain.

When i am logged locally into this machine as the local admin account i have a drive mapped which is as follows:

\\mps01\utilities

When i mapped this drive i used the administrator credentials for our domain, so permissions are not a problem at all. When i run any application from the mapped drive it works fine.

The funny thing is this. When i log into TST01 logging into the domain using the domain admin account i am unable to run any application from within the mapped drive. When i try i get the following error:

"Windows cannot access the specefied device, path, or file. You may not have the appropiate permissions to access the item"

I am really confused by this as it works fine when logged into TST01 with a local account, but when i use a domain account it doesn't work. Permissions should be no problem at all as i am using the domain admin account.

I have also added the domain administrator account to the local computer administrators group, and even checked the permissions on the mapped drive folder which is

Share - Everyone (Full Access)
Security - Everyone (Full Access)

I have even tried removing and re-adding the computer the the domain but with no luck.

I hope i have explained myself o.k with this, if you need any more information please ask. As i said though this to me is quite strange.

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Comments

blargoe

Can you run the application from another computer logged in as domain administrator with the drive mapped the same? Can you run it locally on mps01?

Are you sure the application is compatible with Terminal Server? Is it an installer, if so did you run it from Add/Remove Programs?

When you open explorer and browse does the drive show as connected or disconnected?

albanga

Yeah i can run it fine from anyother computer when logged in as a domain admin. I can also run it from mps01. The problem is, its not a single file, its every single file on the drive.

I can browse through the entire file structure of the drive and it is connected, but i just cant run a single thing from inside it.

Kaminsky

Directory permissions ?

I am assuming you are trying to set up an application for users to access and when you use their permissions you encounter the problem.

Check to see the permissions for the drive allow users access and check the mapping is there for the users too (login script)

Just a hunch

sprkymrk

What happens if you log into the computer TST01 as domain admin, and from a cmd run net delete *.

Then remap the drive while still logged in as domain admin. Can you then run the executables?

blargoe

Are you able to work from other mapped drives from TST01?

albanga

Blargoe yes every other mapped drive works perfectly.

Kaminsky this is a terminal server that is being used as a testing and admin box. I honestly believe it is nothing at all to do with permissions. I have admin privileges over the entire domain so i should be able to access it. From any other computer i can access it fine.

Its like i said when im logged into the TST01 locally and then map the drive using the domain admin account it works fine, when i am logged into the domain it brins up this stupid error. It makes no sense at all.

And sprkymrk i am a little unsure as to what you mean, i was not aware of a net delete command, i checked the net syntax and there was not a listing for it. Could you perhaps explain this in a little more detail.

I even tried mapping the drive using the local mps01 admin account just for a long shot, but still no joy.

sprkymrk

Sorry for the typo - I meant:

net use * /delete

albanga

Still no good sprkymrk. I really have no idea!!

This is one of the most bizarre things i have ever seen. Our network admin had no idea either.

blargoe

Is the Workstation service & Computer Browser service running when this occurs?

davenport

albanga,
The net use command that sprk is telling you about is just the commmand line way of deleting a drive mapping. Sometimes it'll work when the gui is acting funny. It works just as sprk said, for example you could use "net use z: /delete" obviously Z: is the drive letter of the drive you are trying to get rid of. Then remap it with "net use z: \\server\share"

Even if that doesn't help you learned a new command

sprkymrk

davenport wrote:

albanga,
The net use command that sprk is telling you about is just the commmand line way of deleting a drive mapping. Sometimes it'll work when the gui is acting funny. It works just as sprk said, for example you could use "net use z: /delete" obviously Z: is the drive letter of the drive you are trying to get rid of. Then remap it with "net use z: \\server\share"

Even if that doesn't help you learned a new command

It was my fault, I had a brain fart and originally told him to type net delete instead of net use * /delete....

albanga

yeah sprk both services are running, i even tried stopping and starting the services still with no luck.

I also tried the net commands to remove and re-add the drive but still no good.

Do you think it could be just random stupid windows bug that will only be fixed by a re-install?

The thing that is totally annoying me is the fact that it maps and runs beautifully when the drive is mapped with the local admin account using the domain admin credentials, but when your logged in as the domain admin, it doesn't want a bar of it.

Im honestly starting to think this is a windows crappy error!!

Thank you all very much for your help, it is greatly appreciated. Its not the end of the world that i cant map to that drive, but its now just more of a drive to find the problem.

sprkymrk

Weird stuff. Just to recap and think out loud:

You log into TST01 as a local admin, map the drive using domain admin credentials, and all is well.

Did you log in to the computer at the console, or via terminal services? I ask because you did mention it was a TS.

You log into TST01 as a domain admin, and though you can see the mapped drive and browse it, you do not have "execute" permissions.

Again, did you mean you logged in to the console, or did you teminal in? Also, you apparently have read and traverse permissions, but not execute. Can you modify/add/delete files?

You double checked that you had appropriate permissions. You also said you could log into any other computer as the domain admin and everything worked correctly, which would seem put us back to TST01 as the source of the problem, not the domain admin account or permissions on mps01.

So back on TST01 you removed and then rejoined it to the domain. You tried manually deleting and remapping the remote drive.

I am going to think about this some more....

sprkymrk

Make sure the Secondary Logon service is running on TST01.

Secondary Logon*
Service Name: Seclogon

Executable Name: svchost.exe -k netsvcs

Log On As: LocalSystem

Description: The Secondary Logon service allows the user to create processes in the context of different security principals. Common use of this service is for administrators, who may log on as a restricted user and use secondary logon to temporarily run an application as Administrator.

This service enables starting processes running under alternate credentials.

Another feature of this service is the RunAs.exe command. With the runas command, you can run programs (*.exe), saved MMC consoles (*.msc), shortcuts to programs and saved MMC consoles, and Control Panel items. You can run them as an administrator while you are logged on to your computer as a member of another group, such as the Users or Power Users group. You can use the runas command start any program, MMC console, or Control Panel item. As long as you provide the appropriate user account and password information, the user account has the ability to log on to the computer, and the program, MMC console, or Control Panel item is available on the system and to the user account.

If this service is stopped or disabled, the runas command will fail and any calls made to the CreateProcessWithLogonW API will fail. This will also cause the runas user interface snap-in which enables launching applications as another user to generate a Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access them error message.

*On Windows 2000 this service was called the RunAs Service.

sprkymrk

One more thing I found - crazy but worth a shot, are you using IE7 on that server? Try sliding back to IE6 or else add the mps01 server to TST01's Local Intranet Zone within IE.

What OS is running on mps01?

albanga

sprkmyrk u r a genius buddy. Would u believe that crazy local intarnet setting worked. Please tell me how you come up with that one?????

I am not at all a fan of IE7 and throw this into the frey i dont think I will be introducing it onto any of our computers.

I would just like to thank you all for helping with this, i have learnt quite a bit from it. Hopefully you all have learnt a valuable lesson here to.

Dont update to IE7

sprkymrk

Weird, isn't it?

I found that on an obscure microsoft blog by a developer. Apparently they ran into problems accessing netware and samba servers after upgrading to IE7 and that solution worked. I wondered if the problem was related to older versions of SMB, hence my question on the OS of mps01. It may also happen if the shares are enabled through the "Web Sharing" tab or even on SMS servers, which are just plain goofy anyway.