Dreaded red x on reaccuring network drives

[gec5741]

I have searched the internet to try and find a way to fix this issue and have tried every registry hack I've come across but have not been able to fix this. From all the reading I've done it seems that this has been an issue in some way or form since windows 95! Here is a run down with how it is effecting my environment and how I have it setup.

In my home I have a windows 2012 essentials server setup as a DC. Now I have around 8 "clients" in my home most of which are media streaming machines that I have setup to get certain drive mappings that I have defined in the server through windows preferences. I have setup all the media streaming clients to auto login through the registry. Now when I reboot any of these streaming machines all network drives have the red x next to them and I have to manually click the drives to reactivate them and they are fine. The issue is with these machines the idea behind them was to make them automated so I turn them on, they log in, and launch the software they need that must have access to these network locations. Now I have to manually minimize the software and tap on the network drive to make it come alive so it can see that location. This pretty much defeats the purpose of how I have them setup.

I have tried changing the auto login back to default and manually logging in but drives still have the red x.
I've changed the cached credentials to no avail in the registry.
What is strange is I have a windows 8.1 machine in my office as a regular desktop and a windows 10 machine also regular desktop and they do not have this issue. I tried adding one of my streaming machines to the same security groups thinking maybe that had something to do with it but it did not make a difference. I'm at a loss of things to try and can't believe that this cannot be fixed. But I've yet to find a solution for my situation.

An example of one machine that is having this issue in my home is a jukebox that I have setup. This is an older Dell inspiron all in one touch screen PC that is mounted on the wall that runs some jukebox software. All my music is located on the windows 8.1 machine up in my office. If the drive that points to my music is not reachable then the jukebox can't play songs and I have to go manually tape the "M" drive to get it to work. What's strange is I can swear that when I first built the machine it did not do this. But seems once it starts it doesn't stop!

Thanks in advance for reading this wall of text. Hopefully someone will have the solution to this maddening issue.

 

[ussnorway]

Windows does not trust a home network by default... this is by design and not a bug mate.

can you please confirm that it is a network drive and not just a network place... see screenshot? I assume the WX and W8.1 are both in a homegroup and that they see all the drives shared on any older xp, 7 and server file systems without a problem?

 

[gec5741]

All computers are members of a domain not a home group. They all get their drive mappings through group memberships. I setup the shared drives though the windows 2012 servers group preferences. I used item targeting to specific groups on the shares. It's just bit random on what machines get the red x's and which do not. I don't have a shot or the ability to get one on one of my clients getting the red x's.

 

[ussnorway]

I don't have a shot or the ability to get one on one of my clients getting the red x's.

I would expect the I: drive to give this problem because it is mapped to an ip address (I assume .27 is your router?)... you could build/ run a DLNA server to help out but I expect the issue will remain otherwise... another cheap (untested) option, could help if you slow down the boot time on the client machines by say 30 seconds to give your dns a helping hand.

p.s. newer systems tend to remember network settings and that prob helps your W8 and 10 stay logged in were as the older systems drop.

 

[gec5741]

The I drive was an old nas device that never worked very well and really isn't in use anymore. I've read a bit on slowing down the boot time and maybe I'll look into that a bit further. All my clients are windows 8.1 save the one that I upgraded to 10 so there really isn't any rhyme or reason that I can find. And I know when I first built the systems they did not the red x's right away. Thanks for the responses.