Hog wrote:
> I've got a few PC's running XP Pro SP3. Workgroup (no Domain).
>
> I'm having that oft discussed and seldom fixed problem that XP will not
> retain login credentials to cload storage/Sharepoint and mapped drives (NAS
> etc). Same damn issue for Outlook 2007 as well. The Manage Network Passwords
> function doesn't help.
>
> I've read some tech comments that it may even be designed that way. Retain
> login name but not password. Some comments that it is a bug. I've tried a
> couple of suggested reg changes to no avail.
>
> Has anyone ever got to the bottom of it? I'm using WebDrive to maintain
> Sharepoint mappings on my own but it's an expensive little tool and is only
> useful for WebDav and the like.
>
> I realise I could create a logon script but in reverse the Net Use command
> doesn't like Sharepoint servers. Perhaps someone can suggest an App which
> manages mappings and persistence.
The host (server) that is sharing its resource (i.e., a mapped drive on
your host making a connection to the share on the remote/networked host)
can specify an expiration on idle connections. That is, if the
connection hasn't been used in awhile, the server takes back its limited
resources to reuse for someone else's later connection. I haven't done
server admin - after all, you ARE asking in a workstation group and not
in a server group - but do know as a user of mapped drives that mapped
drives disappear (get disconnected) based on a server-side timeout.
That's why, when possible, I use UNC paths to the shared resource
instead of a mapped drive. That way the connection gets created new
each time I access the remote resource and I don't end up with dead
mappings.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297684
You didn't mention what server OS is running on the NAS device. If it
is an embedded OS (i.e., it's hidden from you) then you'll have to see
if it has configuration options to specify the idle timeout on mappings
to shares. Or see if you can switch to using UNC paths to the share
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_(computing)#Uniform_Naming_Convention).
You never mention WHICH service pack level is on the various Windows XP
hosts. Service Pack 2 included some fixes that resolved delays in
reconnecting to a mapped resource to Novell NetWare or UNIX NFS servers
which might apply since you didn't mention what OS runs on the remote
host, like the NAS device (
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=814952).
SP2 also included a fix for client-side caching that caused "access
denied" problems (
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=837917 and
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=840749). If you read SP2's
description (
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811113), it lists several
fixes for mapped drive problems.
Since MS Sharepoint requires a *server* version of Windows, you may have
generated usability problems by running it on a workstation version of
Windows (indicated by "I've got a few PCs running XP Pro" which is
obviously not a server version). For one thing, the workstations have a
maximum of 10 connections so maybe you're hitting that limit that
requires dropping old connections to service the new ones or rejecting
the new connection requests because the queue is full.
With the excessive cross-posting for your message (4 newsgroups), was
there a reason why you didn't just post in a sharepoint newsgroup to ask
about its use? I wasn't sure if your primary concern was with the use
of Sharepoint or just in mapped drives and their loss but which is
totally independent hence irrelevant to Sharepoint.