Skip to main content

Missing Network Drives - Windows 8

After upgrading my workstation from Windows 7 professional to Windows 8.1 professional, I discovered all my network drives were now missing.

The short answer on how to bring them back...

In my case, I as an End User belonged to the local Administrator's group on my local computer. After doing some research this is what worked for me and so many others...

1).  Remove yourself (or the end user in question) as a member of the local Administrator's group on the computer.

2).  Reboot the computer.

3).  Check to see if your mapped network drives are now present.
*Note: If you don't see them right away in the File Explorer window, wait about a minute or so to allow the login script or GP policy preference to run its course.

4).  Add yourself back as a member of the local Administrator's group on the computer.

5).  Reboot once again to ensure network drives are still properly mapping upon login after adding yourself or the End User back as a local Administrator on the computer.

Second recommended solution - For those who initially weren't part of the local Administrator's group...

If you are using a login script to map your network drives, try using Group Policy Preferences instead to create them during login.


Some Details behind the answer...

This indeed has been an issue for many who previously had no issues mapping to network drives before migrating to Windows 8.X. The issue seems to be more prevalent if the mapped drives are being created via a login script that's placed within Active Directory's SysVol folder.  The preferred method to map to network drives now appears to be via Group Policy Preferences. Though this has worked for some, after trying it on our domain, like others, the issue persisted.  It wasn't until I toggled myself out/in of the local Administrator's group on my PC was I able to once again regain my mapped network drives. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"This content requires HDCP for playback" Apple TV fix

Perhaps you are having issues viewing Netflix, iTunes or any other streaming content via your Apple TV device? First, the short answer regarding the fix (in most cases)... 1). Leave your Apple TV device ON. 2). Turn OFF your TV for 10 seconds. 3). Turn ON your TV. 4). Now attempt to view the content on your Apple TV (hopefully without error). Behind the answer... Depending on the content being streamed, there is an authentication process that takes place when you request content. The user is usually oblivious of the this, that is until something goes wrong. HDCP stands for (H)igh bandwidth (D)igital (C)ontent (P)rotection. Even if you are only mildly interested in the 'what' of HDCP, I highly recommend checking out this simple yet concise and exhaustive explanation on Wikipedia, which can be found here... High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection - An Overview More specific information regarding the HDCP issue and Apple TV can be f...
11 comments
Read more

Get List of Exchange Public Folder User Permissions

In the past, end users who should not have had the ability to delete certain Exchange Public Folders from within their Outlook client accidentally  were able to do so.  When these users were initially set up for access to the folders, they were given the permission of 'Owner.'  Reason being, staff at the time were not set on how to grant the proper least priority permissions which would enable the users to make changes within in the folders without escalated permission that also allowed them to delete the folders. To correct the problem, I first needed to know who had what permissions to each folder.  What follows are several commands which can be used within the Microsoft Exchange Management Shell that allows you to obtain such information.  You can either output the information on screen, or to a file where you can use such a tool such as Excel to examine and sort the data. In the following examples, replace FOLDERNAME with the name of your ...
Post a Comment
Read more