Server 2003 Services Accessing Mapped Network Drives

filmo · 10-24-2006, 02:37 AM

Hi All,

This is quite a ramble but any help would by greatly appreciated!

We've just started running Microsoft Navision 3.7 on Windows Server 2003 R2, all our previous installations being on 2000 Pro/Server and XP (For those who don't know, Navision is just a financial/business app). Navision allows for the creation of scheduled scripts (using a built-in language) which can perform maintenance, backups, etc on a schedule. One of our scripts performs a file copy of exported data from one server to another each evening using a mapped network drive. Obviously, for the Navision background service to see the mapped drive we had to persistently map the drive in a user account on the server then set the service to be started under the same username. Why we use a mapped drive and not a UNC path is a long story, something our app development team don't want to change.

So, this had always worked under all other OS until we started doing 2003 installs. Each time the scheduled script runs it produces an error stating it can't access the mapped network drive. We can still forcibly run the script in a Windows user session, but the background service running as the same user seems to have a problem. Has Server 2003 been changed in some way which now restricts the ability for a service to access a persistently mapped network drive?

Thanks in advance.

Mike Brown.

Chevy · 10-24-2006, 10:47 PM

When "running as", the user environment isn't loaded, so the mapped drive doesn't exist.

Is the machine always logged on as a certain user? If so, map it for them and you should be fine.

Or, if the scripting laguage supports commands (or can call a batch file), have it map when needed.

10-24-2006, 02:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
filmo Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 1 OS: XP/2000 Server/2003 Server	Server 2003 Services Accessing Mapped Network Drives Hi All, This is quite a ramble but any help would by greatly appreciated! We've just started running Microsoft Navision 3.7 on Windows Server 2003 R2, all our previous installations being on 2000 Pro/Server and XP (For those who don't know, Navision is just a financial/business app). Navision allows for the creation of scheduled scripts (using a built-in language) which can perform maintenance, backups, etc on a schedule. One of our scripts performs a file copy of exported data from one server to another each evening using a mapped network drive. Obviously, for the Navision background service to see the mapped drive we had to persistently map the drive in a user account on the server then set the service to be started under the same username. Why we use a mapped drive and not a UNC path is a long story, something our app development team don't want to change. So, this had always worked under all other OS until we started doing 2003 installs. Each time the scheduled script runs it produces an error stating it can't access the mapped network drive. We can still forcibly run the script in a Windows user session, but the background service running as the same user seems to have a problem. Has Server 2003 been changed in some way which now restricts the ability for a service to access a persistently mapped network drive? Thanks in advance. Mike Brown.

10-24-2006, 10:47 PM	#2 (permalink)
Chevy Retired Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Notlob Posts: 5,452 OS: Vista Ultimate My System	When "running as", the user environment isn't loaded, so the mapped drive doesn't exist. Is the machine always logged on as a certain user? If so, map it for them and you should be fine. Or, if the scripting laguage supports commands (or can call a batch file), have it map when needed.