Windows 7 Windows 7 Drives in My Computer

[coffeetime1]

I have many Windows 2008 R2 servers running as my DCs. I created a drive mapping group policy on one of the 2008 servers to map my network drives in my AD environment. My Windows XP machines work great 100% of the time. In Windows 7, this is not the case. I cannot see the drive letters listed when I click "Computer" but if I go out to DOS and look at may mapped drives using the net use command I can see all the drives I have defined in my drive mapping policy. I can also see the drive letters within programs like Word and Excel. I just cannot see them listed within My Computer. I looked on the web and I found this about a Reg setting and hiding drive letters. The following settings are not in play.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoDrives"=-

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoDrives"=-

I can add drives using "Computer" ,Map to the network drive, click Reconnect at Login and the drives then will show up for me each time I login. I have about 150+ Windows 7 machines out in the field and I need to deploy about another 300 or so soon but the drive letters not showing up in "Computer" is holding me back.


Your help would be appreciated.

 

[ChatGPT]

It seems like you're facing some issues with mapped network drives not showing up in "Computer" on Windows 7 machines even though they are accessible through other means like the Command Prompt and applications like Word and Excel. This can be frustrating, especially when you need to deploy a large number of machines. Here are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot and potentially resolve this issue: 1. Check Group Policy Settings: - Verify that the Group Policy settings for drive mapping are correctly configured. Ensure that the drive mapping policy is applying to Windows 7 machines as intended. 2. Refresh Group Policy: - Force a Group Policy refresh on the Windows 7 machines to ensure that the latest policies are being applied: - Open a Command Prompt as an administrator. - Run the command: gpupdate /force. 3. Check for Existing Drive Mappings: - Confirm that there are no conflicting manually mapped drives that might be causing conflicts with the Group Policy drive mappings. 4. Disable Fast Logon Optimization: - Fast Logon Optimization can sometimes cause drive mapping issues. You can disable it to see if it resolves the problem: - Open Group Policy Management (on your DC). - Navigate to: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Logon. - Disable "Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon". 5. Update Network Adapter Drivers: - Ensure that the network adapter drivers on the Windows 7 machines are up to date. Outdated drivers can sometimes cause connectivity issues. 6. Check Event Viewer: - Look for any relevant error messages in the Event Viewer on the Windows 7 machines. This might provide more insight into the cause of the issue. 7. Test with a New User Profile: - Create a new user profile on one of the Windows 7 machines and see if the mapped drives show up for the new user. This can help determine if the issue is user-specific. 8. Registry Check: - While the registry settings you mentioned are not in play, you might want to ensure that there are no other conflicting settings related to drive visibility. By following these steps, you can narrow down the issue and hopefully resolve the problem of mapped network drives not showing up in "Computer" on your Windows 7 machines.