Recreating mapped network drive...

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A problem I have had at work today that I'd like some thoughts on:

It's on a XP machine which is logged onto a domain. The user had some access problems for parts of the intranet and one of my colleagues recreated his local and roaming profile. We keep a copy of the "old" profile left on the server or local machine but renamed so it won't affect the user when he's logged on. Anyhow, the permissions issue was resolved - job done.

I had to go back and set up the users settings, outlook signature, auto-complete to-field, favourites etc. but one thing I failed to do was to recreate his network drive mapping. I know how to do it, but the problem is that it was a mapping to a location that he doesn't know and I can't find out (we have over 1000 servers, no chance in hell of finding which one the share is on!)

So my question is; where in his profile is the information concerning his mappings kept??

To solve it, I can check his colleagues account on Monday for the right path, but thats too layman like for me

Any thoughts?



BTW - I'm also searching google at the same time, just thought I'd ask

 

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If you have still got his old profile you can usually find out from the profile unless the the network drive was set up locally on that PC and not through networks.

What Was there a problem with the profile?

Edit: aah just reread your post derkit so ignore the above question.

The mapped network drive can be restored by getting the user to log on and then running the Loadstate.command.

Hold on i have just found a link from the Microsoft website

 

Thanks for the thougts UCM but unfortunately I don't think this will help.

I (as admin) have access to his old profile but don't know what the UNC path should be - this is the information I'm trying to extract from the old profile. In addition, knowing the security settings in place, I don't think the USMT would work/run.

From the link - true that the networked printers, cookies and mapped drives were lost but the rest of his settings ie where his My Docs mounts to, which exchange mailbox is his etc. is all sorted through AD.

I was hoping that somewhere within his old profile, maybe a registry key in the NTuser.dat file, contained the UNC path to his old mapped drive.

 

I found out how to do it

I was using my vmware xp pro to play with for my studying and so I played around:

Run > regedt32
Select node HKEY_USERS
File > Load Hive
Browse for the users NTUSER.dat file
Asked to enter a name "derkittest" I used
BANG

Under the My Computer node in the registry editor now sits:

HKEY_USERS > derkittest > Network > Z

RemotePath REG_SZ \\Derval\MP3-1

and before hand I set up the Z drive mapped to \\Derval\MP3-1

To get rid of it - simply, highlight derkittest > File > Unload Hive.

Lets try it on Monday

 

Just to answer that question - the the users save all of their work out sharepoint servers if its for a team collaboration or into their own My Documents (which is just a mount point onto a multitude of servers).

If they have a drive mapping - ie, from an older system, then its set up by the user/engineers when the user starts in the position. In other words, very few mappings and all are done manually. Retention is simply through saving it in their NTUSER.dat file (or so I found out tonight )

 

Class information, derkit - appreciated.

Liked the "derval" reference, as that is the almost entirely unknown term for the town where I live
[sorry - completely irrelevant]

 

I was just thinking that you might be able to go into the nethood folder in the users old profile and find the relevant 'shortcut'. Right click on it and in the properties find the path.

 

Well done Derkit I was just going to ask - have you looked in the registry? Thanks for posting the solution.

I must admit I am having problems with profiles on AD PC's myself. Like if a profile is mandatory as oppose to roaming where are the location of the dot.dat or dot.man files kept? Are they on the server or saved onto the local PC?

Also if an engineer/technician sets up a mapped network drive on a local PC rather than through their profile does that mean any one logging onto that PC will get the mapped network drive?

 

That is a good one.
Really in the pure hacking mentality.D
Well done

 

cheers Jakamoko and the rest, I felt pretty chuffed with myself when I worked it out
Feels even a greater achievement now

derval - sad as it is, its the main PC in the flat, and its a combination of mine and my g/f's name - I'll let you work out what they are

 

Thanks sparkythumbleft

Just 1 more question (sorry Derkit to hijack the thread) Am I right in thinking if a user has a mandatory profile any changes made to the desktop will not be saved and files/docs will be lost when the user logs off??

 

UCHEEKYMONKEY,

I'm not Sparky but I'll try to answer your question. From what I understand of your combined question, there's actually two separate questions with two separate answers. Your question can be separated into:

1. If a user has a mandatory profile any changes made to the desktop will not be saved?
2. If a user has a mandatory profile files/docs will be lost when the user logs off?

The answer to question 1 is yes, any changes made to the desktop will not be saved.

The answer to question 2 is it depends. If the files/docs were saved to the desktop then yes, you'd lose the file/docs when the user logs off. However, if the files/docs were saved to say My Documents that was actually a share on another computer then the files/docs should be safe after the user logs off. Same files/docs safety is involved if saved to the local hard drive.

I hope this helps.

 

Thanks r.h.lee!

I thought that might be the case I installed a new PC for a user on Friday. Most of the programs are deployed all except one which needs Java and needs a Desktop shortcut to off site server. Under administrator login I changed their user account from normal user to administrator to install the program and created a s/c. But when I rebooted the PC I noticed there was no s/c on the desktop and no folder of that account under documents and settings?

I can only assume it creates an temporay folder somewhere?

Do you think it would work if I create a s/c in the all users folder under documents and settings?

 

UCHEEKYMONKEY,

Do you need that shortcut for all users or just the new user on the "new PC?"

 

Just the new user on the new PC. Although come to think it of it if anyone else did click on it they would be able to use it without a password.

 

UCHEEKYMONKEY,

In that case, why not create the shortcut in the new user's "My Document" folder?

 

I can't that's part of the problem! There is no folder there after I do a cold reboot. There's one created in docs & settings when they log in but it disappears. I think because it's a read only profile it doesn't cache to the local PC? But I'm not sure.

It's either that or their profile is corrupt