SteveH wrote:

> Thanks folks, Malke is correct.
> The computer$ connection, accroding to MS support (I'm now at their
> 4th level advanced network support team), is what they call the
> "default" connection that is made before files are accessed, it is
> supposed to close and be replaced by another connection (usually
> "username" on "computer" when files are accessed.
> My problem is that the default connection doesn't drop, ever, even
> after the fifteen minute default disconnect (we have now set it to
> ten).
> However, when the (now) ten minute idle time is reached on the
> "username" on "computer" connection, both connections do finally drop.
> I can by the way manually disconnect the $ connections, while the user
> is running the app over the mapped drive without affecting them at
> all.

Thanks for getting back on this, SteveH. Yes, it's funny how that works
and how buying a server operating system solves the issue. I don't know
why the connections don't drop and certainly you're working with the
people who *should* know. From a practical standpoint, the only way to
deal with it is to either install an MS server os on the "target"
computer or install Something Else From The Dark Side (I'm partial to
SuSE) if the target computer doesn't need to run Windows programs.

Good luck,

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

SteveH wrote:
> Thanks folks, Malke is correct.
> The computer$ connection, accroding to MS support (I'm now at their
> 4th level advanced network support team), is what they call the
> "default" connection that is made before files are accessed, it is
> supposed to close and be replaced by another connection (usually
> "username" on "computer" when files are accessed.
> My problem is that the default connection doesn't drop, ever, even
> after the fifteen minute default disconnect (we have now set it to
> ten).
> However, when the (now) ten minute idle time is reached on the
> "username" on "computer" connection, both connections do finally drop.
> I can by the way manually disconnect the $ connections, while the user
> is running the app over the mapped drive without affecting them at
> all.

Thanks for posting the update. I'd never heard of computer$ and all the
search engines including Microsoft's treat $ as a special character. If you
ever figure out the actual cause please let us know.

Kerry

Found the answer, just am not too happy with the solution...
It appears that a shortcut to an application running from a mapped
drive, will occasionally verify its vailidity (path I think),
if it is on the desktop.
The problem was resolved by placing the icon in the
\allusers\startmenu\programs folder instead of \allusers\desktop
folder.
When the icon is on the start menu, the issue does not occur.
I have some sites that do have the issue, and some that don't, but
after three weeks of troubleshooting, we just put server OS drives in
these boxes to make it go away...
MS support still says it's a possible profile issue, but I went with
what I knew was going to work.

Thanks for you're help here folks!

Steve

SteveH wrote:
> Found the answer, just am not too happy with the solution...
> It appears that a shortcut to an application running from a mapped
> drive, will occasionally verify its vailidity (path I think),
> if it is on the desktop.
> The problem was resolved by placing the icon in the
> \allusers\startmenu\programs folder instead of \allusers\desktop
> folder.
> When the icon is on the start menu, the issue does not occur.
> I have some sites that do have the issue, and some that don't, but
> after three weeks of troubleshooting, we just put server OS drives in
> these boxes to make it go away...
> MS support still says it's a possible profile issue, but I went with
> what I knew was going to work.
>
> Thanks for you're help here folks!
>
> Steve

Thanks for the update. That's one to remember. XP seems to have lots of
weird problems with mapped drives. It really likes UNC names.

Kerry

Funny part about it, using the UNC name on a desktop shortcut did
exactly the same thing.

Steve

SteveH wrote:
> Funny part about it, using the UNC name on a desktop shortcut did
> exactly the same thing.
>
> Steve

That's even stranger. Good to know though.

Kerry