Red "X" on mapped network drives on new Server 2008 R2 - Windows 7 domain

[Gregg Hill]

Hello!

I recently finished a move from an old Windows 2000 domain with Win 2000
workstations to a new domain with a 2008 R2 server and all Win 7 Pro and
Ultimate workstations, everything being 64-bit. Things seem to work
normally,
but I frequently see a red X on the mapped drives in Windows Explorer on
both
the workstations and on the server. I have set the autodisconnect in the
registry to the FFFFFFFF maximum setting on the server and on the clients,
yet I
still get the red X after a while, sometimes less than the 15-minute default
for
autodisconnect.

At home, I have an SBS 2003 domain with Windows 7 clients, and they don't
get
the red X on mapped drives.

Is this a purely cosmetic thing, or are these drives really disconnecting?
Yes,
they do reconnect quickly when double-clicking one of the drives or using
Word/Excel to open a file. I am concerned that the drive really is being
disconnected, because they have an Access database, and it is my
understanding
that Access does not fare well with network disconnections.

I have run into these problems on older domains, and the autodisconnect
change
always worked to eliminate the red X problem, but not on this new 2008 R2
domain. I also see a KeepConn registry change, but I never needed that
before
and I am hesitant to try it now until I read up on it some more.

I have Googled until my fingers are bleeding, but the #1 "fix" is always the
autodisconnect setting.

So for those of you with more 2008 domain experience, is this behavior
normal?

Thank you for your time!

Gregg Hill

[Robert Parkinson]

Have you found a solution? I am experiencing the same thing with my Server 2008 R2. I have done everything with the autodisconnect that Microsoft suggests. Still the same thing.

Post by Gregg Hill
Hello!
I recently finished a move from an old Windows 2000 domain with Win 2000
workstations to a new domain with a 2008 R2 server and all Win 7 Pro and
Ultimate workstations, everything being 64-bit. Things seem to work
normally,
but I frequently see a red X on the mapped drives in Windows Explorer on
both
the workstations and on the server. I have set the autodisconnect in the
registry to the FFFFFFFF maximum setting on the server and on the clients,
yet I
still get the red X after a while, sometimes less than the 15-minute default
for
autodisconnect.
At home, I have an SBS 2003 domain with Windows 7 clients, and they do not
get
the red X on mapped drives.
Is this a purely cosmetic thing, or are these drives really disconnecting?
Yes,
they do reconnect quickly when double-clicking one of the drives or using
Word/Excel to open a file. I am concerned that the drive really is being
disconnected, because they have an Access database, and it is my
understanding
that Access does not fare well with network disconnections.
I have run into these problems on older domains, and the autodisconnect
change
always worked to eliminate the red X problem, but not on this new 2008 R2
domain. I also see a KeepConn registry change, but I never needed that
before
and I am hesitant to try it now until I read up on it some more.
I have Googled until my fingers are bleeding, but the #1 "fix" is always the
autodisconnect setting.
So for those of you with more 2008 domain experience, is this behavior
normal?
Thank you for your time!
Gregg Hill
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[Johannes Schwarzenberger]

Hello,

I'm experiencing exactly the same problem: Server 2008 R2, Win 7 Pro 64bit Clients (several different Hardware Configurations, ergo the problem definitely doesn't depend on Clients Hardware or Drivers). Red X on mapped drives in explorer resp. disconnected state of the shares reported by net use every few minutes. The shares thenselves aren't any problem to me. But at the same time the state of the share are changing to disconnected, the Workstation ist experiencing errors when querying a MSSQL Database on the server. Abviously the network connection had been disconnected. Windows shares don't care, they just reconnect silently as needed, but the SQL-Session(?) or so is gone then.
What Server Hardware do You use? We got an HP ProLiant ML370G6 with a 4 port GB-NIC NC375i. We already did all the registry stuff that can be found on the web (autodisconnect, disable chimney... newest drivers and so on ...). What we didn't do yet is exchanging Server Hardware, thinking of the Server's NIC in particular.
As the SQL Application is vital to my customer, You can imagine my concern in this case.

Johannes Schwarzenberger

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