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Fixes for WinXP Ignoring Novell Disk Mapping?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the map-net-drives-from-the-end-of-the-alphabet dept.

Arcidius asks: "It's been a year and still nobody seems to have a real solution for getting USB devices to work under Windows XP in an Novell environment. If you're running Windows XP and Novell servers (NetWare 6 for us), Windows XP will show all drives available, even though usually many are have been drive mapped. When you plug in an external hard drive or USB device, Windows maps it to the first free drive letter, usually F:, but since Novell has mapped it already, you can't access the drive. The fix so far has been to manually remap the memory key to a free letter, such as B:, and this has to be done on every machine. Either that, or switch your first mapped drive, which is more of a problem in most environments. Since Novell can't figure out a solution, (and Microsoft obviously doesn't care), I throw it to Slashdot. Does anyone have a real, network wide solution?"

7 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Not a problem with Novell by SCPRedMage · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I fail to see how this is a Novell issue, since this will occur with ANY network share mapped to a drive letter, even in a Windows domain.

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  2. It's not just Novell by natmsincome.com · · Score: 3, Informative

    Hi,

    It happens with any mapped drive. If you map a drive as the next avalible letter then plug in a USB device it will do the same thing.

    1. Re:It's not just Novell by BabyDave · · Score: 3, Informative

      See the knowledgebase article New drive or mapped network drive not available in Windows Explorer

  3. Do you want a pony too? by tverbeek · · Score: 5, Informative

    You have a solution: configure the Novell Client to use G as the first drive letter for automapped drives. Do you want someone here to come implement it for you, as well? It's a fairly simple software tweak. A few clicks on the client properties, or double-click a .REG file with the proper setting in it, etc. 10 seconds per workstation, tops. Less on a new install, since you're probably already setting the default tree and context. If your users can't do it themselves with a short e-mail explaining the steps, and you have too many of them and/or too few of you to do it for them... then your problem isn't this XP/Novell "bug" but a lack of proper support systems.

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    1. Re:Do you want a pony too? by Joiseybill · · Score: 5, Informative

      Other Novell users have already solved this for you, too. Cool Solutions
      This covers installs with or without ZEN.
      +mod parent up - not a troll, he actually offered helpful info! Using a carefully crafted .reg file might actually preserve some level of security, too; isn't that the point of using Novell?

  4. Re:People still use Netware? by misleb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    eDirectory.

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  5. And here is the MS KB article by rduke15 · · Score: 3, Informative
    But, as mentionned in my parent post, no solution for non-admin users who cannot re-assign drive letters.

    New drive or mapped network drive not available in Windows Explorer:
    "This behavior occurs if you map a network drive to the first available drive letter after the drive letters for the local volumes and CD-ROM drives. When you install a new device or volume, Mount Manager, which assigns drive letters to volumes, does not recognize the mapped network drive and assigns the next available drive letter to the new device or volume. This causes a collision with the existing mapped network drive."