Troubleshooting
Problem
This document discusses the behavior of different Microsoft Windows releases in relation to their support for qualifying a share mapping with a subdirectory.
Resolving The Problem
Question: Can an IBM i NetServer share name be further qualified when mapping a drive?
Answer: Whether a NetServer share name can be qualified with another directory level depends on the Windows operating system version and service level being used. Windows XP and above allows a drive to be mapped to a directory below a share point.
Historical Information: Windows 95/98 and Windows NT and base Windows 2000 required a network drive to be mapped directly to a share point. A drive could not be mapped to a directory below the share point. When mapping to a NetServer Share with Windows 95/98/NT and Windows 2000 base, the following syntax was required for the path:
\\NetServer\ShareName
The following table shows the results on different Windows operating systems of attempting to qualify a NetServer Share when mapping a drive. In this example a share is created called USERHOME which points to the /home directory. Within the /home directory there is a directory called USERDIR (path is /home/userdir). An attempt is made to map the drive as follows:
\\NetServer\USERHOME\USRDIR
Historically, Windows 95/98/NT and base Windows 2000 rejected this request on the basis that the path did not point to a valid share, because USERDIR is not a valid share. Different versions of the Windows operating system handle this request differently and unexpected results will occur with the older Windows operating systems.
| Historical Information:Windows 95 | Accepted the request to map the drive and disregarded any part of the path that attempted to qualify the Share. Using the example above: \\Netserver\USERHOME\USRDIR, Windows 95 mapped the NetServer drive to USERHOME and dropped the \USRDIR. Note: The user might not have realized the drive was actually mapped to a higher level when this happened. |
| Historical Information: Windows 98 | Accepted the request to map the drive and disregarded any part of the path that attempted to qualify the Share. Using the example above: \\NetServer\USERHOME\USRDIR, Windows 98 mapped the NetServer drive to USERHOME and dropped the \USRDIR. Note: The user might not have realized the drive was actually mapped to a higher level when this happened. |
| Historical Information: Windows NT 4.0 | Using the example above: \\Netserver\USERHOME\USRDIR, Windows NT 4.0 returned a message: The network name cannot be found. |
| Historical Information: Windows 2000 (base) | Using the example above: \\Netserver\USERHOME\USRDIR, Windows 2000 returned a message: The network path \\Netserver\USERHOME\USRDIR could not be found. |
| Historical Information: Windows 2000 (Service Pack 2 and up) | Mapped successfully. |
| Windows XP and above | Maps successfully. |
Note: The SUBST command can be used to map another drive letter to a point beneath the share. This is often used with logon scripts to map a users home directory. See your Microsoft documentation for further information.
Additional Note - added for searchability:
The name i5/OS NetServer may be used interchangeably with IBM i NetServer, System i NetServer, iSeries NetServer, OS/400 NetServer, or (older) AS/400 NetServer or AS400 NetServer.
Historical Number
20181247
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Document Information
Modified date:
18 December 2019
UID
nas8N1017714