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  • #2157273

    Making XP shared drives mutually reconnect?

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    by Anonymous ·

    One of the people whose PCs I help to maintain has three XP machines, and he shares the drives of each, over his internal network, with each of the other machines.

    Although the shares are set to reconnect at boot-up, the machines, of course, are never started up exactly simultaneously, so only the last machine booted actually manages to reconnect all the shares it wants, while the others just report some of the shares as disconnected.

    Is there a way (maybe a setting, maybe a separate program, whatever) to make it so that ALL THREE machines properly reconnect to ALL of the respective shares upon reboot?

    The only thing I could guess is, perhaps, to set each one to delay the attempts at reconnection, giving each machine time to come online, or to have each periodically re-attempt the reconnection, so that all the connections would (eventually) come up, even if one or more of the machines were booted much later. Sounds good, but I’m a UNIX person, and have no idea how this could be done under XP, nor if it’s even possible.

    Thanks!

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    • #2977068

      Clarifications

      by Anonymous ·

      In reply to Making XP shared drives mutually reconnect?

      Clarifications

    • #2977043

      Or you could …

      by older mycroft ·

      In reply to Making XP shared drives mutually reconnect?

      Have one Host and two Guests. 😉

      • #2977037

        you could…

        by Anonymous ·

        In reply to Or you could …

        … but that doesn’t answer the question and is not what they want.

        • #2977035

          Well, your original description was tenuous at best …

          by older mycroft ·

          In reply to you could…

          Perhaps if you’d mentioned that Host+2xGuests was NOT what they wanted, then I wouldn’t have suggested it.

          But you didn’t.

          So, I did. 😉

          I doubt if he’s sharing all the drives with each machine on the network: not at root level. The XP system would throw up objections to that.

          So, that’s ONE down and NINETEEN to go, then we can start a new game of 20 Questions. 🙂

    • #2977031

      When you say

      by rob miners ·

      In reply to Making XP shared drives mutually reconnect?

      that the drives a connecting at bootup, how exactly are you achieving this.

      I would have thought that if all of the PC’s were turned on at the same time and they are left at the logon screen so that it is showing on all of the PC’s the drives would have a fair chance of connecting. If you run your drive mapping script from the users startup folder it will connect as they logon.

      • #2976973

        He’ll tell you, you could do that but that’s not what they want :)

        by older mycroft ·

        In reply to When you say

        That was going to be my 2nd attempt but lost interest.

        Anyway that’s how my 3 ‘puters happily co-exist. 😉

      • #2976915

        Just typical XP

        by Anonymous ·

        In reply to When you say

        > that the drives a connecting at bootup,
        > how exactly are you achieving this.

        Just normal XP: In Windows Explorer, map the desired drives, and have the box checked that says “reconnect at logon.” Since the machines each have only one user, and those users do not have passwords, the logon occurs automatically after boot. There are no scripts, etc. – just the “reconnect at logon” setting.

        • #2976562

          Well, there ya go….

          by thumbsup2 ·

          In reply to Just typical XP

          You have explained your own solution. Set a password for each user. And, if the owner says they don’t want to do that, tell them that what he/she wants is not possible. They can’t have their cake and eat it too.

          By the way, on a P2P network (workgroup), if this user/owner waits long enough, the mapped drives will auto-populate. Are they simply being too impatient?

        • #2976542

          Could be…

          by Anonymous ·

          In reply to Well, there ya go….

          > Are they simply being too impatient?

          Thank you for the explanation. It makes sense: If they have to wait at a password prompt, then the computers would already be booted enough for each to recognise each other.

          What happens, then, when one of them turns on his computer at 6AM, and the other doesn’t start until 1PM? Will the auto-population you mentioned somehow alert the first machine that the other’s drives are now available? If so, what is the interval at which the check for the auto-population occurs? Is there a way I can set up something to force the checking/reconnection from just a single, simple icon on their desktops? They are neither technical enough nor (as you mentioned) patient enough to go into Windows Explorer and go through the procedure to re-map the drives.

        • #2976526

          6AM / 1PM scenario …

          by older mycroft ·

          In reply to Could be…

          The machine that logs into the network alone at 6AM will obviously not have any external drives to map to, and will run as a standalone system with unmapped network drives.

          When ‘the other’ [i][b](what happened to the third machine??)[/i][/b] powers-up, the first machine doesn’t have to do anything to establish connection. This is because all available drives will be mapped by the system that is now in the process of joining the network.

          I can’t remember what the polling interval is for inter-machine mapping, but I wouldn’t go messing around with it for fear of then having to adjust all the other polling intervals too. Mm.. might just be me, but if users on a network can’t be bothered using Windows Explorer to kick-start a slow mapping, it makes me wonder what the hell they need a network for. 😉

        • #2976523

          .

          by cg it ·

          In reply to Could be…

          :).

        • #2976503

          re: Your questions.

          by thumbsup2 ·

          In reply to Could be…

          (1) There is no notification. It’s either there or it’s not.

          (2) I don’t remember the interval either, but it’s relatively short. When the 2nd computer boots and connects back to the 1st one, it’s automatic on both (all 3) ends.

          (3) They don’t have to re-map. Just map once, set the reconnect at logon and leave it alone.

          (4) You can right click/drag and create a shortcut from the mapped drive to their desktop. But, simply double clicking My Computer would accomplish the same thing, as well as force the interval to look at mapped drives, without additional icons cluttering up the desktop.

        • #2976494

          This was my thought, too.

          by Anonymous ·

          In reply to re: Your questions.

          > …simply double clicking My Computer would
          > accomplish the same thing, as well as force
          > the interval to look at mapped drives…

          What you said is what I had thought but, after the second machine comes online, if (for example) the guy on the first machine double clicks “My Computer,” the drives mapped to the second machine are listed as disconnected. If he then double clicks on one of those mapped drives, XP says the drive is not connected and cannot be found, If he calls me and I go over there, right click that drive, tell it to disconnect, then map it out again, it works fine. Could it be that their mutual sharing is interfering with that should be the normal operation?

          As for the third computer, that is not used as frequently, but IS a part of the equation, and DOES experience the same difficulties (and the others, with it, as well).

          Thanks again.

        • #2976286

          Have you set up accounts on all three?

          by thumbsup2 ·

          In reply to This was my thought, too.

          Does each computer have a user account for those using the other computers? For example, on computer A you have user A, on computer B you have user B, on computer C you have user C. Each computer should have user accounts A, B and C. That way, when the connection is attempted (double clicking My Computer), it logs into the other computers using the account currently logged into on THAT computer.

          If you don’t have user accounts on each computer, you should be using the ‘connect using’ option when mapping.

        • #2976493

          Thanks for clearing that up

          by rob miners ·

          In reply to Just typical XP

          as Thummy has suggested, you should be using passwords. Is there any reason that the first person into work can’t turn on all of the PC’s.

        • #2976473

          Server + 3 workstations ?…

          by older mycroft ·

          In reply to Thanks for clearing that up

          Anyone, whoever arrived first, could press one switch and solve everyone’s problem. 😉

        • #2976472

          And the last one to leave

          by rob miners ·

          In reply to Server + 3 workstations ?…

          could check that they are turned off. I think we have solved the problems for the OP. 😉

          It just has to be put into practice. 😀

        • #2976369

          It’s not work…

          by Anonymous ·

          In reply to Thanks for clearing that up

          > Is there any reason that the first person
          > into work can’t turn on all of the PC’s.

          It is a home network, with the separate machines in separate rooms, and used by separate people with separate interests, but they do want their files all shared, and there is one main guy who may, at any time, decide to use one of the other machines, instead of his own. One guy provides the home, work, and computers for a local family that he took into his home several years ago, and has specific ways in which he wants things to work. Not one of these people has much technical savvy, so the whole thing is much more difficult to handle than an office network where an IT person may, more easily, enforce system policies.

        • #2976360

          Set them up on a good

          by rob miners ·

          In reply to It’s not work…

          UPS and leave them running. If he can’t go around and turn them on, they may as well be left on. It seems like every time we suggest something another barrier is presented. Mind you there have been a few good suggestions put forward by the peers. 😉

        • #2976275

          More details…

          by Anonymous ·

          In reply to Set them up on a good

          I have tried to avoid posting what SHOULD be details that would be irrelevant to the answering of the original question, so that people would be encouraged to answer in a manner that IS relevant to the original question. When I have seen questions on this site where people HAVE posted such details, those people have been chided for posting information that got in the way and distracted from the actual question. Now, I have posted ONLY the actual question, and am chided for not posting the irrelevant details.

          The fact is, we are community-development workers in a third-world country (hence, why this guy is supporting that family in such a way), and even though we have access to high-speed (for the area) Internet, that doesn’t mean everything is technologically perfect. Each of the machines HAS a UPS, since it is absolutely necessary here, due to very wide fluctuations in power and frequent outages. The cost of the power, however, is prohibitive to 24-hour operation.

          Yes, it is true that, every time something has been suggested, other barriers HAVE been presented, but that is because the suggestions have only been general workarounds – not truly answering the original question. Thus, most of the suggestions offered could never truly be considered worthy of clicking “this was helpful,” since those who have posted them have only been interested in complaining about not having the details THEY have wanted for the answers THEY wished to provide, rather than providing an answer that genuinely addressed the originally stated question.

        • #2976267

          The fact you’re in a 3rd world country makes no difference.

          by thumbsup2 ·

          In reply to More details…

          The facts are that what this guy wants to do is NOT possible, given the equipment/setup that he has. And, there is no magic wand that we can wave over the situation to ‘fix it’.

          As for details… In some cases, details are necessary. In others, less detail is needed. It’s the same as if you went to the doctor to diagnose a problem. When you have your own idea of what’s wrong and only provide details related to THAT, the doctor can not make a reliable diagnosis. However, if you tell the doctor what the symptoms are and ONLY answer questions that he asks, he can figure out the problem much faster.

          Many answers have been posted here as a work-around to the situation in an attempt to get something CLOSE to what this guy wants. But, you continue to throw up your hands and say that it won’t work for him. And, now, you complain about the answers that have been offered to you. So, as many before me have already done, I’ll just throw up my hands and tell you that you’re on your own from here on with this one. Go float your boat in some other pond.

          .

        • #2976283

          The REAL problem here is exactly what you’ve discribed….

          by thumbsup2 ·

          In reply to It’s not work…

          ‘Not one of these people has much technical savvy’.

          It seems the ‘One Guy’ who wants things his way doesn’t understand what is involved and that it’s NOT going to work ‘his way’.

          Some people think that just because computers are involved, anything is possible even though they don’t have the correct set up for what they want AND they don’t want to spend the money to make it possible.

          Just tell him that he has two options: (1) use it the way it is and live with it, maybe changing his procedures a bit, or (2) spend the money and put in a server and quit peeking into the other people’s computer.

        • #2977530

          Simple answer

          by rob miners ·

          In reply to It’s not work…

          educate the users. 😉

    • #3029594

      This is what you need to do

      by aidandb ·

      In reply to Making XP shared drives mutually reconnect?

      You said a piece of Software would also do the job. Then you should use ” NetworkDriveManager “, I had a similar problem as you and this solved the problem. With this software you can manually connect the drives.

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