I access my ReadyNAS Duo via Frontview I created one user: user1 and one group: users
I have one share: files The share has been set with the following permissions: CIFS: Default Access: Disabled Write Enabled Users: user1 Enable Oplocks for this Share: Checked All other options unchecked
Advanced Options: Share folder owner: user1 Share folder group: users All rights: read/write Grant rename and delete privileges to non-owner of files: checked All other options: unchecked
I have done a one time reset of the owner and group by checking "Set ownership and permission...." on the Advanced tab and applying so all files and folders are owned by user1.
Now for the problem. When I try to map the drive on my windows 7 computer so that it connects at startup it fails each time I reboot. To map the drive I click "Computer" in the start menu and choose "Map network drive" from the bar at the top of the window. I choose the Z: and browse for the folder I want to map. As soon as I click on the NAS I am prompted to Enter "Network Password". I assume I am supposed to enter the username and password for the share that I created and to check "Remember my credentials". The only unchangeable choice that seems out of place is that the "Domain: RAVEN" is chosen. RAVEN is the name of my computer but not the name of the domain that I setup on my network. Regardless of that anomaly I input my username and password and I connect to the NAS and choose the share to map.
Now I am back at the Map Network drive window and I have selected "Reconnect at logon". There is also a checkbox for "Connect using different credentials". I am not sure if I should check this box or not??? If I do check it and press finish I am prompted to enter a network password. I can either use my existing user that I created in Windows 7 or I have the choice to use another account. At this point I am thoroughly confused and not sure which to choose or if I even needed to connect using different credentials at all. Needless to say my connection fails upon restart, though it seems to connect fine when I complete the drive mapping as I can access the share without any problem.
If someone could clear up the correct way for me to connect I would really appreciate it.
The option to connect using different credentials is because by default, it will connect with your Windows logon details. So yes, you should do that when you first set up a mapped drive. The way I do it is to check both of those boxes before even browsing for the folder I want to map. Once I enter my Nas Admin creds (I use absolute paths ie: \\192.168.1.x\home\<user>\folder1) it immediately opens this new resource/drive in a new window. (I guess to confirm that's what I wanted)
I have no problems with reconnecting at logon.
Have you tried the command line batch (manual) reconnect at logon approach? (found in the wiki under "shares")
Thanks for the response. Could you please review my steps and tell me what I am doing wrong?
1. Choose Map network drive and check both checkboxes for "Reconnect at logon" and "connect using different credentials". 2. press the browse button and choose my NAS drive. 3. I am prompted for my login/pass. I enter my NAS admin login/pass (the same one I use for Frontview) and not my Username that I have setup to access the share. 4. instead of choosing the share named "files" I browse through the c folder to the folder named "files" and press ok giving me a path of \\NAS-01-F0-3F\c\files 5. Press Finish at which point I am presented with another window asking for a network password and giving me the choices to connect as RAVEN\admin (and enter a password) or to "Use another account". 6. I choose "use another account" and enter in the username I have setup as a user on my NAS with access to the share files, named "user1" and input user1's password and check the box "Remember my credentials" and press OK.
I tried these steps and I get an error saying I am already mapping the drive as another user and cannot choose to map it as user1. I assume this is because I initially used the login/pass of my admin account during the steps above. Should I use the admin login/pass (the same one I use for Frontview) for both steps 3 and 6? If I do that will the files that I create be set to the owner "admin" or the owner "user1"?
Well, sometimes Win7 just wants a confirmation of your logon. Use the same Nas root admin account info. You might want to hold off on checking the "remember login" box until you know it's working for sure.
Another reason could be that your actual windows logon has no password assigned to it currently.
For me, my Win7 doesn't even show my Nas in the list. (something to do with a network discovery problem) So, I have to type it in manually. And I don't use any masks. I am using the IP address. So, I type in \\192.168.1.2\c\<user> and go from there. Of course, my router has assigned the ip subnet to *.*.*.2 and that is what I am using.
If you can't make it work from the GUI, try the DOS approach. Get to a command shell and type the following:
net use $resource \\$host\$sharename /persistent:no
$resource = desired mapped drive letter, with a colon [F:] $host = your nas name or IP {READYNAS | 192.168.1.# } $sharename = path to folder you wish to map {folder | home\folder}
On my computer, since I already have a Nas-Root access mapped, I didn't need to enter a password or user.
ie: NET USE m: \\readynas\Mom /persistent:no
Once you can get this to work from the command line, then you can include this command in a batch file that you can set up to run every time you boot your machine.
NOTE: Extensive help on the "net use" command can be found at microsoft.
So here is the wrinkle to what you have been suggesting.
I have two computers for me and my wife. Both of them use a different Windows 7 username and no password and both need access to the files on the NAS using the same NAS user account that I created (user1). I used to have the NAS setup with open access and it worked fine. However I do not want anyone clever enough to hack into my wifi to be able to access my NAS so I needed to add the layer of security by making the share password protected and adding a NAS user (user1) with access to the NAS shares.
That may help you better understand what I am trying to accomplish as far as the goal.
Before your reply I read all about net use and tried it with the same result. My command line looked like this "net use z: \\NAS-01-F0-3F\files /user:user1 MY_PASSWORD_WAS_HERE"
I then added the command "NET USE /Persistent:Yes" to set it to reconnect at startup
The drive mapped fine and I was able to open it up and see all the files, create files with the correct ownership rights, everything is perfect except when I restart it fails to reconnect.
This code gives a switch error. net use z: \\nas_name\share /user:username password /persistent:yes /savecred
I had to use this: net use z: \\nas_name\share /persistent:yes /savecred and then it prompts me for the user and password
The share is then mapped per the norm and I can access it. Upon restart I still get the "Failed to reconnect error", but if I click on the mapped share it "thinks" for a few seconds and then opens the drive as if it has no problem connecting. If I look in the Credential Manager the credentials are saved under the Windows Credentials area.
So basically what this is telling me is that Windows remembers my credentials but it doesn't use them when the computer reboots only when I double click on the share manually....???
I was just able to experiment a little with my Win 7 Ultimate installation - and got that old familiar feeling of windows-induced-frustration.
When mapping the share to a drive letter via the "net use" command, my symptoms are identical to those of @sulu. On every reboot the share was remembered due to the /persistent option, but failed to mount fully giving the familiar "failed to connect" error, but I click on the mapped drive the share opens without issue. One small difference however, no amount of playing with the /savecred option would get my credentials into the Credential Manager
I then completely deleted the drive mapping and recreated it via the Windows GUI (Open "Computer" in Explorer and select the "map network drive" option from the top of the window). Credentials were immediately saved and visible in credential manager. And so far, after 3 reboots, the drive is mapped without issue.
I have no explanation, and 3 reboots is hardly a definitive test but something is definitely wrong when using the "net" command
Afraid that's my weekly struggle-with-windows limit far exceeded
sphardy, I tried your suggestions and it still fails to reconnect for me. I tried using a windows xp computer to map the drive and I get the same problems. Maps fine, but fails to reconnect upon reboot.
I am so frustrated. I need to work off of my NAS and I have been trying to get this resolved for 2 weeks plus now. It is seriously a thorn in my side. Should I remove all security from the NAS and try to map the drive without any user/pass and see if it can connect on reboot? I am running out of options. Maybe I can't have a secure NAS device and just need to leave it open to the world...
I've never encountered such an issue under Win XP, Linux or OSX when accessing either of my 2 NAS. Given the large number of similar complaints from Win 7 users targeting other Samba based servers and even true Windows systems I'm strongly inclined to believe this is a Windows 7 issue that is not at all specific to ReadyNAS.
Question: Do you really need to map a drive? I had not noticed this issue previously as I don't use mapped drives in Windows, instead preferring to use UNC paths which I don't have an issue with. ie use \\nas\share rather than z: Maybe this would be a suitable workaround - at least in the short term
I don't know what a UNC path is or how to set one up. Is it as simple as the command "use \\nas\share" and including the applicable username and pass? Does it keep you connected when you restart? My wife has a large itunes library that she syncs with her ipad and the share needs to be connected to her PC for it to sync.
windows vista/7 sometimes seems to have a problem with your network coming as 'public' mode on startup, this often causes mapped drives to fail.
I don't know of any solution other than to wait a minute or 2 before logging in (so the network can come up and recognize your home network).
you can see if this might be happening, when you boot up mouse over the network icon on the tray, see if its unknown or public network, then after a few minutes it says home network, or something to that effect.
We might have something that is workable here using UNC as sphardy suggested.
I opened windows explorer and typed "\\NAS-01-F0-3F\files" in the address bar without quotes. I hit enter and it prompted me for username and password. I entered them and checked "save credentials". The share opened up to the files. I created a shortcut to the share in my taskbar. Then I tried to reboot and open the shortcut to the NAS I created and it prompted me for a username and password again. I filled out the information again and checked save credentials. I opened up the credential manager and the username and pass I asked it to save were there but the Persistence was set to "Logon Session". I also noticed that the username was set to RAVEN\My_NAS_Username. I rebooted and sure enough the credentials were gone. So I opened up credential manager again and pressed "Add a Windows Credential"
For Internet or network address I used: NAS-01-F0-3F User name: RAVEN\the username of the user I created on the NAS Password: the password of the user I created on the NAS
I pressed ok and the Persistence was set to Logon Session. Strange...
So I removed the credential from the vault and tried again this time with the following (I omitted the name of my computer "RAVEN"):
For Internet or network address I used: NAS-01-F0-3F User name: the username of the user I created on the NAS Password: the password of the user I created on the NAS
After hitting ok I viewed the credentials, I received "Enterprise" as my persistence so I thought maybe this will work. I rebooted and tried to open the shortcut to my share drive. No dice, I got prompted for my username and password again.
Back to the credentials manager I go. This time I tried adding the name of the NAS to my username:
For Internet or network address I used: NAS-01-F0-3F User name: NAS-01-F0-3F\the username of the user I created on the NAS Password: the password of the user I created on the NAS
Hit ok and got "Enterprise" for persistence. Rebooted, clicked on shortcut and it opened without a prompt (albeit after a few seconds of the spinning blue circle). Now for the next test. I added a music file to itunes that exists on the share and played it. Rebooted the PC and first thing opened up itunes and tried to play the song. Waited a few seconds (I assume these are the same few seconds that I initially saw when trying to open the shortcut) and the song played! It appears that the right combination of credential manager username (adding the NAS name prior to the username) led to the correct "Enterprise" persistence and the ability for the NAS to connect without prompting for username and pass. I am going to try this method with mapping the drive as well. Stay tuned...
My attempt at mapping the drive (using the same methodology as the attempt that worked) failed to reconnect at startup so it doesn't fix the mapping issue. So I will go back to UNC and use that. The only downside that I can tell is the 11 or so seconds it takes to "connect" and start playing a music file with itunes. Once connected it seems speedy enough though. I am not sure why it would take so long to pass credentials and connect. I just built this PC using the latest components including an SSD drive so everything happens almost instantly except for this.
I am still disappointed after all my work to setup my PC and the NAS drive correctly that the final problem that brought the whole thing to a halt was not being able to map a network share... Come on Microsoft!
Hmm it seems the victory is short lived. It works but just barely. If I don't actively use the NAS drive by browsing files and folders or by playing a music file from it, I have to wait 15 seconds each time I try to re-access it.
Here is an example. I start playing a music file. I get a phone call. I pause the track in itunes. 2 minutes later I am off the phone and press play in itunes and have to wait 15 seconds for the track to resume playing. The same goes for browsing files on the NAS. If I stop and do something els for a minute or two and try to go back to browsing the files on the NAS I have to wait 15 seconds while the blue circle spins and then finally the NAS can be browsed again...
So now I run into another problem. I removed security on the share and Windows is still prompting me for a username/pass when I try to click on the NAS in the Network. The share is open, what username/pass could it possibly want?
Here is the 1 and only share settings:
CIFS Default Access: Read/Write Allow Guest Access: Checked Enable Oplocks: Checked All other fields empty, all other checkboxes unchecked.
Advanced Options: Grant rename and delete privileges to non owner files: checked All rights: Read/Write Share folder owner: wyatt (does this matter to network access? It is set to wyatt because that is the name of the user I created and what I set all file ownership rights to.) Share folder group: users (does this matter to network access?)
The share folder owner and group don't really have anything to do with connecting to the share since they are filesystem level settings.
If guest access is enabled, then any unsuccessful authentication attempt will result in guest access. So UNC in Explorer works but clicking on the NAS in Network does not? Do you have any protocols other than CIFS enabled for the share?
