Unable to Restore Persistent Connection During Logon

ID: Q169049

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition version 4.0

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

When you log on to a Windows NT domain, one of the following error messages may be displayed:

An error occurred while reconnecting <Driveletter>: to \\<Computername>\<Share>

-or-

Microsoft Windows Network: The network name cannot be found.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur when both of the following conditions are true:

The domain that you are logging on to contains the network share specified in the error message.

The name of the network share to which you are attempting to log on contains more than 12 characters.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it.

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

Install Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 3 on the computer. For information about installing Service Pack 3, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack

Create a REG_DWORD value named AllowLongShareName in the following registry key, and set the data value to 1:
```
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Rdr\Parameters 
```

NOTE: This change does not take effect until you restart your computer.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 4.0. This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

S E R V P A C K

Keywords : kbnetwork ntdomain ntregistry NTSrvWkst
Version : WINNT:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug