Mapped network drive resets on restart

Question

I have a problem where my mapped network drive becomes unavailable after a restart, trying various solutions to make it persistent [/persistent:yes when re-mapping via PowerShell, etc.]:

• net use Z: "\\10.0.1.145\xyz" connects the drive fine but doesn't persist past a restart

I wrote a script to automate this for me:

• If ( !(Test-Path -Path "\\10.0.1.145\") ) {
     net use Z: "\\10.0.1.145\xyz" /persistent:yes
  }
  

  • The odd thing is:
    Test-Path -Path "\\\10.0.1.145\\" = false
Test-Path -Path "\\\10.0.1.145\xyz" = true
    
    
• net use Z: "\\10.0.1.145\xyz" /persistent:yes gets the same result as the two Test-Path commands, with the only difference being Z: is accessible via CMD (Z: has been accessible via Explorer all along)

How can I map Z: persistently to 10.0.1.145 or reliably automate this if the former doesn't work?

Answer 1

When Windows 10 logs on, there is a timing issue which causes it to attempt to map the network drives before the network is available, so all network mappings are disabled.

To fix:

• Run Start > Edit Group Policy (or gpedit.msc)
• Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Logon
• Set "Always Wait for the Network at Computer Startup and Logon" to "Enabled"
• Click on Apply/OK.

Answer 2

I had a similar issue and was able to workaround by adding the credentials to Generic Credentials in Credential Manager:

cmdkey /generic:10.0.1.145 /user:yourUser /pass:yourPass

Answer 3

This solves the problem for me¹..

1. Create C:\Scripts\NetworkDriveMap.ps1 script (create Scripts folder if not exist),
2. Create C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\NetworkDriveMap.cmd script,
3. Done.

.cmd script will be executed at Windows Startup, it will set the permissions and call .ps1 script, which will try to reconnect with the shared network (check %Temp%\StartupLogs.txt file after the reboot).

Here are the scripts

NetworkDriveMap.ps1

$i=3

while($True){

    $error.clear()

    $MappedDrives = Get-SmbMapping |where -property Status -Value Unavailable -EQ | select LocalPath,RemotePath

    foreach( $MappedDrive in $MappedDrives)

    {
        try {

            New-SmbMapping -LocalPath $MappedDrive.LocalPath -RemotePath $MappedDrive.RemotePath -Persistent $True

        } catch {

            Write-Host "There was an error mapping $MappedDrive.RemotePath to $MappedDrive.LocalPath"
        }
    }

    $i = $i - 1

    if($error.Count -eq 0 -Or $i -eq 0) {break}

    Start-Sleep -Seconds 30
}

NetworkDriveMap.cmd

PowerShell -Command "Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser" >> "%TEMP%\StartupLog.txt" 2>&1
PowerShell -File "%SystemDrive%\Scripts\NetworkDriveMap.ps1" >> "%TEMP%\StartupLog.txt" 2>&1

---

¹ The source of this work is taken from this article, with minor edits (paths fixes, quotes).