Sadly, the group policy method of drive mapping does not require any
scripting knowledge. I say sadly only because I loved my VBScript
logon scripts, and now all this code is redundant thanks to Drive Maps.
Kind administrators provide an extra drive or two in Windows
Explorer, as a result users can access folders that are really on a server.
Companies may have departments such as 'Sales' or 'Accounting', and some
of these users may need access to 'Product information', or 'Expense'.
Now rather than the users grappling with the local network, the thoughtful
administrator provides Group Policy Drive Maps whereby P: is for 'Forms', and E: is for
expense claims.
Many users actually believe that a folder called 'Accounts BigServer' is on their local machine
rather than being a connection to a shared folder on network server.
Others may marvel that their machine has a P: drive, but their colleague's
does not; little do they know the administrator controls the drive maps via
permissions within the Group Policy Management Console.
Back in the 1980's the first mapped drives that I ever saw were created
wit .bat
files using 'Net Use' commands. In the 1990s the power of VBScript
seemed a huge step forward in giving users access to network printers and of
course, shared folders. The advent of Group Policy Drive Maps removes
the need for coding expertise, while delivering the same features as logon
scripts.
Not only does the group policy method make it easy to create extra local
drive letters, but also it makes it simple to change the mapping should the
resources be moved to a different server.
Lest I over-promise what Drive Maps can deliver, I would point out that
other settings in Group Policy are designed for providing access to shared
printers, for example there is a whole folder of policies under Computer
Configuration, Administrative Templates, Printers. Talking of folders,
Folder Redirection is an under employed policy for users' personal folders.
Recommended: Solarwinds' Permissions Analyzer - Free Active Directory Tool
I like the
Permissions Monitor because it enables me to see WHO has permissions
to do WHAT at a glance. When you launch this tool it analyzes a users effective NTFS
permissions for a specific file or folder, and takes into account network share
access, then displays the results in a nifty desktop dashboard!
Think of all the frustration that this free SolarWinds utility saves when you are
troubleshooting authorization problems for user's access to a resource.
My speciality is getting people started. So firstly you need GPMC
(Group Policy Management Console) on a Windows 2008 server, for once Gpedit
does not supply the equivelent preference group policy.
Preparation: You need to share out a folder on a network
machine. Best create a folder called 'YourName', next right-click and Share.
I always use my name in my test folders so that I can find them! I
also recommend creating a test OU with a test user.
Key Prerequisite: In an OU, preferably a specially
created test container, select 'New', then 'Shared Folder'. Give the
share a name, then seek the 'UNC Path' box and type in \\ yourserver\ yourshare.
Launch GPMC: I prefer to right-click and 'Run as
administrator'. You may want to create a test OU, and also a test
Group Policy. My point is that experimenting on the Domain Policy may
confuse users if it's a live system.
Find Drive Maps
Scroll
down to User Configuration; from there expand 'Preferences' (not
Policies).
Click on Windows Settings and you will see 'Drive Maps'. (If you
cannot see Drive Maps, then you are in the Computer Configuration
Preference).
Use Drive Map to Create Share
Right-click: Drive
Maps, New, Mapped Drive.
I prefer the Action: Create, rather than Update.
Select the Location for your shared folder. If there are no UNC
paths for your share, then refer to the key prerequisite above.
Pick a drive letter, for example: 'K'.
Take a minute to scan other options, for instance, 'Label as' will give
the share a more meaningful name.
New Drive Properties The four New Drive 'Actions' are
Create, Replace, Update, and Delete. The difference between Replace and
Update is that Replace deletes the mapped drive and then creates a new
mapped drive, whereas Update does modifies the mapped drive with the new settings.
Testing your Drive Mapping: You could just run the
wizard and rely on the results. Alternatively, you could try logging on as
the user. If you choose the latter, then you need a test machine, else
make the user a member of the Backup Operators so they can logon to your
domain controller.
I find the wizard never lies, if the Drive Map does not show in the
results, then it never shows if you logon as that user.
Free Monitor for Your Network: SolarWinds Real-time Traffic Analyzer
The main reason for monitoring your network is to check at a glance which
servers are available. If there is a network problem you
want an interface to show the scope of the problem immediately.
Even when all servers and routers are available, sooner or later you will be curious to
know who, or what, is hogging the precious network's bandwidth. A GUI
showing the top 10 users always makes interesting reading.
Another reason to monitor network traffic is to learn more about your
server's response times and the consumption of resources. To take the pain out of
capturing frames and analysing the raw data, Guy recommends that you download a copy of
the SolarWinds
free Real-time NetFlow Analyzer.
Problem: While you created the shared folders, Active
Directory does not recognise it, therefore does process the Drive Map.
Solution: Go to the OU, select New, Shared Folder.
Problem: No users in your Test OU! Solution:
Give Active Directory a chance! Create a user in the OU where you are
configuring the policy.
Problem: Delay in replicating the Group Policy from the
Domain Controller to the client machine. Solution:
Run Gpupdate on the Windows 8 client.
Problem: Preferences, and therefore Drive Maps, aren't
available to Gpedit on Windows 8 in a Homegroup. Solution:
Make sure you use GPMC in Active Directory.
For more clues search the logs. Windows 2008
writes Group Policy events to the System log, whereas Windows Server 2003
uses the Application log. For example: error 1030 GPO query error, also
see 1079
to 1095 for more GPO errors.
Drive Maps - Configure Common Options
The main use for the drive map options on the Common tab is for
troubleshooting; to tell the server how to handle any errors.
Run in logged-on user's security context Group
Policies normally run under the security context of the SYSTEM account, it
may solve a permissions problem if this particular policy ran in the user's
context.
Preference Item-Level Targeting The idea is to filter
the policy so that it only applies to particular users or computers. You can
even target multiple items by using (AND or OR). If the combined value of
all targeting items for a preference item is false, then the settings in the
preference item are not applied to the user or computer. This is an easier
and better method than WMI filtering.
Stop processing items in this extension if an error occurs on
this item An option to speed up processing, rather than solving
any problems.
Using VBScripts to deliver mapped network drives has been superseded by using
GPMC to configure Drive Maps. The way to get started is to scroll down to
User Configuration and then look for Preferences.
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