A local disk drive is not available after you connect it when the drive uses the same drive letter as a mapped network drive (830238)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition

Beta Information

This article discusses a Beta release of a Microsoft product. The information in this article is provided as-is and is subject to change without notice.

No formal product support is available from Microsoft for this Beta product. For information about how to obtain support for a Beta release, see the documentation that is included with the Beta product files, or check the Web location where you downloaded the release.

SYMPTOMS

Assume that either of the following conditions is true:
  • You map a network drive to a resource by using the drive letter that is assigned to a removable device that is not connected to your computer.
  • You map a network drive to a resource by using the drive letter of a drive from a Terminal Services session.
In either of these scenarios, you may experience both of the following symptoms when you reconnect the removable device or when you connect to the Terminal Services session:
  • The drive letter remains mapped to the network share, and it displays the contents of the shared resource when you double-click the drive icon.
  • The drive letter for the newly connected hard disk does not appear under Hard Disk Drives in My Computer.
Note This issue may also occur when you map a network drive by using a drive letter that is assigned to a cluster node, and when the group that contains the clustered hard disk then fails over to the other cluster node.

Because of this issue, you cannot access the data that is on the local hard disk drive. If you restart the computer, the issue is resolved.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, disconnect the mapped network drive. Microsoft recommends that you do not map a network drive by using the drive letter of a physical disk that may later be connected to your computer.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

820952 Mapped network drives are not released when cluster drives are brought back online

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:2/16/2005
Keywords:kbpending kbBug KB830238 kbAudITPRO
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