Mapped Drives in Windows Explorer May Retain the Name of a Disconnected Drive (306117)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP1
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP2
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP1
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP2
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP1
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP2
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 SP6a
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP6a
This article was previously published under Q306117
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

If you disconnect and then reconnect to a different share by using the same drive letter after you map a network drive by letter in Windows Explorer, the share label displays the previous share name in Windows Explorer.

Note that the contents that are displayed are correct for the remote drive, but the label is incorrect.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if the Windows Explorer DesktopProcess registry value is set to 1.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To resolve this behavior, delete the DesktopProcess value from the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

MORE INFORMATION

Problems when you use the DesktopProcess registry value are not supported by Microsoft.

Note also that running EXPLORER on RunAs is not supported. This behavior is by design of EXPLORER.

Steps to Reproduce the Behavior

  1. Add the following registry key as a REG_DWORD value with a hex value of 1:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\DesktopProcess

  2. Use Windows Explorer to map share A to a drive letter.
  3. Disconnect the share, and then map share B to the same drive letter that you used in step 1.
The share label displays as share A even though you are connected to share B.

REFERENCES

For additional information about the DesktopProcess registry value, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

156366 How to Run Windows NT Explorer As a Separate Process

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:5/28/2003
Keywords:kbfix kbprb kbRegistry kbWin2000PreSP3Fix KB306117
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