Net Use /Home Fails with 13 Character Domain Controller

• Microsoft Windows for Workgroups
• Microsoft Network Client version 3.0 for MS-DOS

SYMPTOMS

Carrying out a "net use <drive>: /home" command fails with the following error:

Error 53: The computer name specified in the network path cannot be located.

CAUSE

Carrying out the "net use <drive>: /home" command only allows for 13 character domain controller computer names. Domain controller computer names greater than 13 characters are truncated.

A client attempts to retrieve the home directory value by querying the authenticating domain controller. Because the computer name is truncated, the computer name cannot be resolved and the name query fails.

NOTE: If the home directory server is not a domain controller, its computer name can be up to 15 characters in length.

RESOLUTION

Rename all domain controllers with names that are 13 characters or less or upgrade clients to Windows 95. For more information on renaming a primary or backup domain controller, please see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Q150298 Renaming a Windows NT PDC or BDC

Additional query words: err msg errmsg downlevel win95 homedir networking wfw wfwg

Keywords : ntdomain NTInterop
Version : WINDOWS:
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb