Cannot Map Drives to More Than Eight NetWare Servers

• Microsoft Windows 95

SYMPTOMS

When you try to map a drive to a Novell NetWare server, you may receive the following message:

   Before you can connect to another server, you must detach from one
   or more of the listed servers.

CAUSE

The Microsoft Client for NetWare Networks defaults to a maximum of eight mapped NetWare servers.

RESOLUTION

To work around this behavior, use one of the following methods:

Method 1

Connect to the server using a Universal Naming Convention name. This bypasses the default connection limit because UNC connections do not use drive letters.

Click the Start button, click Run, and then type "\\<server>\<share>" (without quotation marks) in the Open box, where <server> is the server name and <share> is the name of the share on the server.

This is a "manual" connection that does not remain mapped to the server when you restart the computer.

Method 2

Change or add the "CONNECTIONS=" line in the Net.cfg file. A default value of 8 is used if there is no "CONNECTIONS=" entry in the Net.cfg file. Add this line with a value of up to 50, or change the line to a value of up to 50. Then, remove the network components in Windows 95. Restart your computer and reinstall the network components. After you reinstall the network components you should be able to map as many drives as the value in the "CONNECTIONS=" line in the Net.cfg file.

The Net.cfg file is a NetWare support file. This file is not included with Windows 95.

MORE INFORMATION

The default maximum number of server connections that NetWare 3.1x allows is eight. The Microsoft Client for NetWare Networks uses the same default value. This restriction does not affect the number of drives that can be mapped. It affects only the number of servers you can map a drive to.