Often when developing backup solutions for clients, I run into the proverbial “Mapped drives keep disconnecting” nightmare. The cause for this is often associated to one of the following issues.
Problems:
1) Trying to log in with multiple log-ins.
2) There is more than one computer or device using the same name and/or IP number.
3) The server is timing out the connection.
4) The power management is turning off/powering down the NIC.
Solutions:
1) Connect to server using the IP number insted of the UNC name, i.e.
IPNumber = \\192.168.0.1\bkupfolder
vs.
UNCName = \\backupsvr\bkupfolder
2) There are several way to see which computers are using the same name or ip.
a. open up the cmd.exe shell, type # arp -a
b. Open up your router and look at the host list via DHCP if in use, or the connect computer list.
3) The server will disconnect connections to save “resources”. Here is a note I found on the issue.
This behavior is by designed.
This behavior occurs because Windows NT Server 4.0, Windows 2000 Server, and Windows Server 2003 can drop idle connections after a specified time-out period (by default, 15 minutes) to prevent wasting server resources on unused sessions. The connection can be re-established very quickly, if required.
To resolve this issue, you can run the following command on your computer:
net config server /autodisconnect:-1
This command will turn off the autodisconnect feature.
For more information, please refer to the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
Mapped Drive Connection to Network Share May Be Lost http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q297684
4) If it is a power management issue you have to dig deep to get to the correct UI to disable it.
Option 1: Start > Control Panel > Power Options > Change Plan Settings > Change Advanced Power Settings
Option 2: Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Right Click Your NIC and Choose “Properties” > Click “Configure” button > You should see a Power Management Tab > Uncheck “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”. DONE!
Reference:
- http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/170849-mapped-network-drives-keep-disconnecting?page=2
- https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/f45c5d96-ffe5-461e-af66-0ca0cecee548/mapped-drives-keep-disconnecting?forum=itprovistanetworking
