Michael Posted September 21, 2011 Posted September 21, 2011 Hello all, I can't seem to get home drives to map correctly with Windows 7 Pro and 2008 R2, yet all other network drives are mapping correctly. Users documents are mapped as \\SERVERNAME\USERNAME$ Folder Redirection set as 'Basic' > 'Redirect to the user's home directory' I logon and the H:\ drive does not map. I've played with the 'Drive Maps' option using common Windows variables and none of them work. I don't wish to use scripts as everything else is being processed by GPO. Any ideas? TIA
Michael Posted September 21, 2011 Author Posted September 21, 2011 This is what the event logs say: Event ID 1085 Absolutely brilliant Microsoft, now how do I fix this?
glennda Posted September 21, 2011 Posted September 21, 2011 (edited) are you trying with an account with administrative rights are you? there is some security thing ms has done which stops it T if you are see this http://www.proposedsolution.com/solutions/network-drives-mapping-windows-7-vista-login/ Edited September 21, 2011 by glennda
Michael Posted September 21, 2011 Author Posted September 21, 2011 I've tried this, it makes no difference! Thanks for the suggestion though.
Popular Post Michael Posted September 21, 2011 Author Popular Post Posted September 21, 2011 Right I have fixed the problem, so I thought I would share it! I can confirm there was no problem with the server, policies or scripts (as I am not using any scripts now). The problem was created because of a memory card reader in a 3.5" bay. With Windows XP and a memory card reader, the drives would appear visible in My Computer irrelevant if there was a memory card inserted or not. With Windows 7 (and possibly Vista) this behaviour is different. I changed the home drive letter from H:\ to Z:\ which cured the problem, then I had a look at Computer Management (on the workstation). Windows 7 had allocated letters E: to I: with the memory card reader, but the drives are not visible in Computer. They're only visible when a memory card is inserted. Moral of the story, why have Microsoft hidden the drive letters? If a drive letter has been allocated, it should be visible in Computer! Here are the GPO settings I used All user areas are mapped as \\SERVER\user$ Folder Redirection \\SERVER\%Username%$\AppData\Roaming Documents - Redirect to the user's home directory Pictures - Follow the Documents Folder Music - Follow the Documents Folder Videos - Follow the Documents Folder \\SERVER\%Username%$\Favorites \\SERVER\%Username%$\Contacts \\SERVER\%Username%$\Downloads \\SERVER\%Username%$\Links \\SERVER\%Username%$\Searches \\SERVER\%Username%$\Saved Searches Drive Maps Map the drive letters as you would normally \\SERVER\SHARE Tick Reconnect Give a label and choose a drive letter (that's it). You do not need to map the home directory here. This is done on the profile tab of a user. Managing User Documents Since Windows Vista and Windows 7, user home directories will all be renamed 'My Documents', but there's a simple way around this without using scripts! Navigate to the folder where your home directories are located. Right click in the column 'Size' > 'More...' Select 'Filename' in the list, then click OK. The username will now be displayed 5
plexer Posted September 21, 2011 Posted September 21, 2011 I had the same issue with a multipoint server that had a card reader. I reallocated its drive letters in disk management. Usbdlm would also be an option. Ben
Michael Posted September 21, 2011 Author Posted September 21, 2011 I decided to just change a few of the affected drive letters, so H:\ is now J:\ for example. It's not a good idea hiding drive letters which have been allocated in my opinion. I never had this issue with XP as the letters were visible. Although Windows 7 is great when it works, I don't ever re-call having as many problems when first deploying XP all those years ago.
Michael Posted September 22, 2011 Author Posted September 22, 2011 Another one to look out for is locally connected USB printers with built in memory card readers. You guessed it, it uses up another drive letter but remains hidden! I had to re-configure network drives a third time this morning!
SmellyLlama Posted September 23, 2011 Posted September 23, 2011 Since Windows Vista and Windows 7, user home directories will all be renamed 'My Documents', but there's a simple way around this without using scripts! Navigate to the folder where your home directories are located. Right click in the column 'Size' > 'More...' Select 'Filename' in the list, then click OK. The username will now be displayed Sweeeeeeeet!! 'Hugs'
andyrite Posted October 9, 2011 Posted October 9, 2011 I use USBDLM USB Drive Letter Manager - USBDLM to fix the drive letter problems. You can assign with drive letters card readers and usb pens get.
Arthur Posted October 9, 2011 Posted October 9, 2011 It's not a good idea hiding drive letters which have been allocated in my opinion. I never had this issue with XP as the letters were visible. You would have still had exactly the same problem with XP though. H: wouldn't be mapped to the home directories. Windows 7's behaviour is better IMO because users don't waste time or get frustrated randomly clicking drives until they find the one used by their memory card. Due to Sod's law it's always the last one. Like andyrite, we use USBDLM to prevent card readers assigning 4 or more drive letters to empty slots. This is a problem the card reader manufacturers should have solved a long time ago.
Michael Posted October 9, 2011 Author Posted October 9, 2011 You would have still had exactly the same problem with XP though. H: wouldn't be mapped to the home directories. The thing is, some memory card readers would of used up visible drive letters in XP and others don't until you plug a device into the card reader I've noticed. With 7, any memory card reader I have used automatically takes up a letter and it is hidden in Explorer and only visible in Computer Management. I would of detected the problem in 5 minutes under XP, as it would of been obvious from Explorer the drive letter was taken up. The error logs didn't help at all, it just failed to process the policy. It would of been useful if it mentioned the letter in question had already been allocated. A clue would of been nice, but you live and learn!
Davit2005 Posted October 9, 2011 Posted October 9, 2011 Always tried to keep shares starting at the end of the alphabet for this reason. Local drives start at beginning, including USB drives or anything connected to a USB hub (memory slots etc.). I've had the experience while installing XP of C: drive appearing on a HP printers USB port and the printer was hidden in a cupboard :-(.
Michael Posted October 12, 2011 Author Posted October 12, 2011 (edited) Update 12.10.11. If you find Folder Redirection is intermittent (as I did), you need to specify the FQDN when specifying paths. This has fixed ALL my Folder Redirection problems. I hope this helps someone else! Folder Redirection Update \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\AppData\Roaming \\SERVER.domain.domain\Icons\Curriculum\Desktop \\SERVER.domain.domain\Icons\Curriculum\Start Menu Documents - Redirect to the user's home directory Pictures - Follow the Documents Folder Music - Follow the Documents Folder Videos - Follow the Documents Folder \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\Favorites \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\Contacts \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\Downloads \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\Links \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\Searches \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\Saved Searches This works on Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Permissions On the Icons share, specify the following permissions: Everyone - Read & execute, List folder contents, Read CREATOR OWNER Administrators (DOMAIN\Administrators) - Full Control Also make DOMAIN\Administrators the Owner of the Icons share too. Edited October 12, 2011 by Michael 3
cromertech Posted October 12, 2011 Posted October 12, 2011 Thanks I think that maybe why mines a bit sketchy sometimes. Just changed it over so will have to see if it helps
Michael Posted October 12, 2011 Author Posted October 12, 2011 Please post back when you've tried making the change I'm curious to see if it does work for you too. 1
cromertech Posted October 12, 2011 Posted October 12, 2011 will do the next lesson is probably enough to see if it works, especially for the appdata folder which was very intermittent
cromertech Posted October 12, 2011 Posted October 12, 2011 Just logged in a few test students but I get a access denied message for creating the appdata folder. Do you have your permissions for that share so I can check they are right. I have students with change permissions on the share and modify for the ntfs.
Davit2005 Posted October 12, 2011 Posted October 12, 2011 Thanks Michael, I have seen people mention about using FQDN on paths in 2008 so I could try that. Something peculiar to note. I went thru event logs for logons and found that everytime the 'My Pictures' folder was not mapping, the other folders (except for Start Menu which was always getting mapped) were intermitent. So I tried changing from server name to IP address to the path of the server only on the My Pictures folder and since doing that and a local profile clear I do not seem to be having any more problems with any of the redirections and any of the staff that were having the same issue so maybe this also points to using the FQDN in the path. I shall give it ago if I have any more probs, maybe do it over half term either way. Once again thanks for reply
Michael Posted October 13, 2011 Author Posted October 13, 2011 Just logged in a few test students but I get a access denied message for creating the appdata folder. Do you have your permissions for that share so I can check they are right. I have students with change permissions on the share and modify for the ntfs. I redirect Appdata, so it actually appears within the root of a user's My Documents. The permissions are set as Full Control (on the share) for the user themselves and Domain Administrators and that's it.
Michael Posted October 13, 2011 Author Posted October 13, 2011 Thanks Michael, I have seen people mention about using FQDN on paths in 2008 so I could try that. Something peculiar to note. I went thru event logs for logons and found that everytime the 'My Pictures' folder was not mapping, the other folders (except for Start Menu which was always getting mapped) were intermitent. So I tried changing from server name to IP address to the path of the server only on the My Pictures folder and since doing that and a local profile clear I do not seem to be having any more problems with any of the redirections and any of the staff that were having the same issue so maybe this also points to using the FQDN in the path. I shall give it ago if I have any more probs, maybe do it over half term either way. Once again thanks for reply In theory if you set Pictures, Music and Videos to 'follow' the documents folder it should just work. I haven't had problems redirecting users files/folders myself, just the desktop shortcuts.
Michael Posted October 23, 2011 Author Posted October 23, 2011 Here are some additional tweaks I have made: All Tested on Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Note: \\SERVER.domain.domain represents the FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) Folder Redirection Update 23.10.11 Application Data (Not Applicable) - Microsoft offer a fix here, but it's messy, so I decided not to redirect AppData. \\SERVER.domain.domain\Icons\Curriculum\Desktop \\SERVER.domain.domain\Icons\Curriculum\Start Menu Documents - Redirect to the user's home directory Pictures - Follow the Documents Folder Music - Follow the Documents Folder Videos - Follow the Documents Folder \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\Favorites \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\Contacts \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\Downloads \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\Links \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\Searches \\SERVER.domain.domain\%Username%$\Saved Searches Permissions On the Icons share, specify the following permissions: Everyone - Read & execute, List folder contents, Read CREATOR OWNER Authenticated Users - Read & execute, List folder contents, Read SYSTEM - Full Control Domain Admins (DOMAIN\Admins) - Full Control Administrators (DOMAIN\Administrators) - Full Control Also make DOMAIN\Administrators the Owner of the Icons share too. Home Share \\SERVER.domain.domain\username$ Profile Share \\SERVER.domain.domain\Profiles$\username Policy Tweaks Computer Config > Policies > Admin Templates > System > Logon - Always wait for the network at startup and computer logon - Enabled Computer Config > Policies > Admin Templates > System > User Profiles - Set maximum wait time for the network if a user has a roaming user profile or remote home directory - Enabled - 10 Seconds The Welcome screen may be displayed for 30 seconds during the logon process after you set a solid color as the desktop background in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2. I think this only applies to Windows 7 RTM, but using GPP, I applied it as recommended by Microsoft. You encounter a long logon time after you enable the "Do not automatically make redirected folders available offline" Group Policy setting in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2 This affects Windows 7 RTM, Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. And today, I've come across this: You experience a long domain logon time in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2 after you deploy Group Policy preferences to the computer I've downloaded the fix and will be testing it next week. This affects Windows 7 RTM, Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. 4
Michael Posted October 26, 2011 Author Posted October 26, 2011 Remove Security Warning Messages When opening Internet Explorer shortcuts using a redirected desktop, you will most likely receive a Security Warning window. There are lots of 'how to' guides floating on the net, but none of them worked for me, but this did (though my own experimentation) User Config > Policies > Admin Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer > Internet Control Panel > Security Page - Site to Zone Assignment List - Enabled Click on Show, then input your server's FQDN e.g: \\SERVER.domain.domain with a value of 1, then apply changes. 1
burgemaster Posted November 15, 2011 Posted November 15, 2011 \\SERVER.domain.domain\username$ Do all your users have Their home drive shared then? I asked about this on edugeek and most said that this was the win 2000 way of doing thinks and shouldn't be done on 2k3/8?? Tia
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