[Samba] Disconnected network drive

Paul Abrahams
2006-11-28T23:36:13Z

I have a couple of Linux directories that are being exported via Samba running
under SuSE 10.0.  On the Windows side, each of them is assigned a (mapped)
drive letter.  In the "My Computer" list they initially show up as
"Disconnected Network Drive".  If I attempt to access a file within
one of
them, the access fails with an indication that the drive does not exist.
(For example, if the drive letter is H:, doing "H:" from a C>
prompt gives
that message.)   However, if in Windows I click on the drive, I get to see
its contents and the status changes to "Network Drive".  At that point
the
drive contents become available to my Windows applications.

I get this behavior on three different machines, all running Windows XP.  In
the Windows drive mapping, I've checked the "Reconnect at Logon"
box, but
that makes no difference.

I'm guessing that the problem is on the Linux side since each Windows
machine
can access exported directories from other Windows machines without any
difficulty.  It's only the drives exported from Linux that have the problem.

I can of course work around the problem by opening up My Computer when I start
the Windows machine and clicking on the drive in question, but that should
not be necessary.

Is this a known problem?  Is there a workaround or a fix?

Paul