BUG: WNetUseConnection Returns ERROR_ALREADY_ASSIGNED on Windows 2000 (257298)

SYMPTOMS

On Windows 2000, a call to WNetUseConnection() with the lpLocalName member of NETRESOURCE structure set to "NULL" and dwFlags set to "CONNECT_REDIRECT" returns error 85, "ERROR_ALREADY_ASSIGNED". This also affects ShellExecuteEx() when used with the SEE_MASK_CONNECTNETDRV flag.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910 How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

This problem was first corrected in Windows 2000 Service Pack 1.

MORE INFORMATION

According to the WNetUseConnection() documentation on the MSDN, if the CONNECT_REDIRECT value is set in the dwFlags parameter, and if lpLocalName is "NULL", the function should choose a local device to redirect and should return the name of the device in the lpAccessName parameter. But on Windows 2000, WNetUseConnection() fails with the error, "ERROR_ALREADY_ASSIGNED".

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Use the following code snippet to reproduce the problem:

 #include <Windows.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <winnetwk.h>

int main(void)

{

   DWORD       nRet; 
   NETRESOURCE nr;
   LPTSTR      buff;
   DWORD       buffsize = 256;

   nr.lpLocalName  = NULL;
   nr.lpRemoteName = (LPSTR) GlobalAlloc(GPTR, 256);
   buff	           = (LPSTR) GlobalAlloc(GPTR, 256);

	
   nr.dwType = RESOURCETYPE_DISK;
   lstrcpy(nr.lpRemoteName, "\\\\mycomputer\\testshare");
   nr.lpProvider = NULL;


   nRet = WNetUseConnection(  NULL,
                              &nr,  //connection details 
                              NULL,
                              NULL, 
                              CONNECT_REDIRECT,  
                              buff,
                              &buffsize,
                              0
                               );

  if (nRet != 0)
      printf("Function returned error %d \n", nRet);
  else
 {
     printf("Function returned Successfully \n");
     printf("AccessName %s \n", buff);
 }
  return 0;
 
};