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WIn2000 limit on network connections?

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11 replies

by saellis

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I have a Windows 2000 Pro computer that we use as a basic file server. We have a shared folder called "DATA" that contains letters and spreadsheeets. When I share the CD ROMs from that file server on the network and map everyone to them, after aboutthe 5th computer that I map to the CD ROM drive I get an error. "No more connections can be made at this remote computer at this time because there are already as many connections as the computer will accept" Then that computer and several other computers can't open the shared file folder. I have to reboot the computer and then everything is okay for about 15-30 minutes then people start complaining that they can't access the shared drive again.I checked the properties of all the shares and they are set to maximum allowed. We all have Windows 2000 Pro, there are about 15 computers at our office. Is there a limitation to how many network connections that a Windows 2000 Pro computer can have? Any ideas on what I should do?

11 replies

by timwalsh

With 15 computers in the office and multiple shares, if you want everyone to be able to connect to any share at any time, you need to invest in Windows 2000 Server. The 10 concurrent connection limit applies to any Microsoft Destop Operating System..

by pschuvie

Windows 2000 Pro provides "limited" server capacity. The maximum number of concurrent shares is 10 and often begins to fail sooner as some connections will grab more than one share.

The solution is to step up to a small (Windows) server which iscapable of handling greater numbers.

The other solution, though very very cumbersome, is to acquire the share only on an as needed basis. Of course this really doesn't seem to be practical given the grumbling that is already happening.

You might also get around it by introducing another W2kPro as an alternate share, but again your not really addressing the real problem and only applying flimsy bandaids.

There can be other network file share solutions, but it will all depend on your available budgets. One would be to install a NAS, such as is available from Maxtor, which will handle the files and provide a greater number of shares. A Snap server probably will do the same. In each case the load is tranferred from the Windows Pro Client to a better defined specialty server.

Hope that helps.

If you need more post comment.

by gigelul

I agree previous answers.
A temporary solution can be splitting your DATA share between computers (make more share on more computers which will be accessed by less than 10 computers).

by saellis

All answers to my question were very helpful. Thank you! When I closed my question I don't think I did it correctly so that everyone received their points for helping me. I'm very sorry.

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