Mapped drives disappear after logoff or reboot.

Anonymous
2010-01-21T23:45:28+00:00

I cannot get a mapped drive to stay mapped after a log off in Windows 7.  Whether I map the drive by right clicking My Computer or by command prompt (net use f: \sharename /persistent: yes), after the user logs off or reboots, the drives disappear. 

This is only happening to the users on Windows 7.  We have no problems with the users on XP.  Anyone have any idea?  I've tried logging in with different usernames, disabling 3rd party client firewalls, disabling UAC, etc.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

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Anonymous
2015-04-15T15:23:19+00:00

Hi CSholmire,

Thank you for letting us know your concern.

I would suggest you the below methods. Try performing these and check for the issue after each method:

Method 1:

  1. Open a Command Prompt as the user that the drives are not being remembered. Do not use the "Run as Administrator". In this case we don't want to do that. At the Command Prompt type: net use <enter>
  2. Does it say something like this: C:&gt;net use. New connections will not be remembered.
  3. If it says they "will not be remembered", then you need to change that. Type: net use /p:yes

That will change the system setting for the user to make the drives remembered all the time and will be the default action.

If the above is not the case then map the drive through the Command Prompt and see if the mapping is remembered.

net use /p:yes

net use r: \servername\sharename

You may change the drive letter R: above to any free letter you wish. However remember that if you use a letter that is too close to the beginning of the alphabet you may overlap with USB devices and then one or the other will be missing. You can replace the R: with * and it will start with the next free drive letter starting at the bottom of the alphabet. That should make the drive be remembered through log off and reboot.

Method 2:

The long-term fix is a registry edit that will make mapped drives visible in both standard and administrative sessions.

  1. Press Windows +R and type in : regedit
  2. In Regedit, navigate to HKLM//SOFTWARE//Microsoft//Windows //Current Version//Policies //System.
  3. Create a new REG_DWORD entry named "EnableLinkedConnections".
  4. Set its value to 1.
  5. Reboot after adding the registry entry and programs will be able to see mapped drives forever.

Note: This section, method, or task contains steps that tells you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ )

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

Keep us posted if you face any issues on windows in future. We will be glad to help you.

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Anonymous
2010-01-22T21:00:30+00:00

Hi hanlee888,

I would suggest you to follow these steps and check if the issue is resolved.

1.      Open Computer by clicking the Start button, and then clicking Computer.

2.      Click Map network drive.

3.      In the Drive list, click a drive letter.

You can choose any available letter.

4.      In the Folder box, type the path of the folder or computer, or click Browse to find the folder or computer.

To connect every time you log on to your computer, select the Reconnect at logon check box.

5.      Click Finish.

For further information, visit the below mentioned link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Create-a-shortcut-to-map-a-network-drive

 Hope this information helped!

 Thanks and regards

 Fouzan – Microsoft support

 Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum 

 http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-%20US/answersfeedback/threads and let 

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-12-16T17:29:53+00:00

    This may not specificially address this issue but it's worth a try:

     

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978980

     

    It seems this issue has been around since day 1 of Windows 7.

    I have the same issue as reported.  This was one of the first suggestions I found.  I tried, but it didn't work.  I also found the registry entry for the Network drives.  Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network lists all mapped drives. I noticed that the 2 drives I was having trouble with had a different configuration than the other 5 or 6 I was not having trouble with.  The 2 broken ones had an empty Username value. 

    First I deleted all my mapped drives and rechecked the registry.  All were removed.  I rebooted and remapped my drives.   The username value was still empty.  So, I created a new username with the same value as the other mapped drives and I removed the original Username entry.  I rebooted a few times and they didn't disappear.  However, I notice the issue really occurs the next day for me.  So, when I came in the next day, I found the same drives were missing again.  So, I am going to try mapping these network folders to different drive letters.  However, even if this works, this might not be an acceptable work around because of 2 possible reasons.  In our org, we have applications on our servers where a user needs to be mapped to a specific drive letter for the app to work and also for us the S:/ drive is commonly known as our Shared drive.  We have links to the "S:/..." drive in different documentation that someone might not be able to access without manually typing the drive in the explorer window.  If mapped drives are persistently ignoring the 'Reconnect at Logon' setting there is definitely a bug that needs to be addressed.  I have started to notice a series of issues with mapped drives in Windows 7, on which I have been searching for solutions.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-09-23T15:27:46+00:00

    This also worked for me.

    But, it made me think. If the mapping has been deleted, and it works on another drive letter, but not on the old one, that means some information must still be floating around somewhere.

    So, into the registry we go:

    • I've tried this, and found the old mappings, deleted them, but, to no avail.

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932463/en-us

    • might also be in a non-registry file maybe?

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-09-23T15:25:20+00:00

    Hi Gaurav,

    Thank you for your very helpful suggestion.

    I've tried mapping the drive through the GUI instead of through the command line.

    Unfortunately, the issue remains the same. The drive is gone after reboot.

    Any other ideas?

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