Question : How can I have windows reconnect to a mapped AS400 drive at reboot?

I have been reading through similar tickets and if the answer is there, I apologize, but I don't quite understand what they've been saying.

v5r3 iseries folder to map to:  \\OUR400\INTRANET
PCs all with XP SP2, on a workgroup called, amazingly, WORKGROUP

I can map this on a machine to "W:" and enter the user's AS400 id/pw under "Connect using a different username"  
The windows name/pw do not match the AS400 id/pws as the windows ids are not employee specific, but the as400 ids are.

In Firefox, I then want to give each user a bookmark for "w:\main.html" so they can reach our little intranet website.
This works fine until the system is rebooted.

After reboot, clicking the bookmark gives: "File not found."  Opening My Computer shows the drive is disconnected.  Doubleclicking brings up "incorrect user name and password" prompting again.  The prompt is PCNAME\AS400ID.  If the user's AS400 pw is re-entered the connection comes back up without issue.

I have no problem doing this but it would fly over the head of my users and I'm trying to make this invisible to them.

The users connect to the AS400 using iSeries Access for Windows.  They do not use Navigator, nor would they know what to do with it.

Is there a way to do this at all?  I don't want to buy new hardware or software, but if I can set something up as a script during windows login or something on the AS400 side, I'm willing to try it.    I feel like I can work within both systems well, but for this kind of networking communication, I feel like an absolute beginner..  

Thank you!

Answer : How can I have windows reconnect to a mapped AS400 drive at reboot?

ebbhitch:

In order to use NetServer 'guest' support, two elements are required from the beginning:

1. A 'guest' profile must exist and be enabled. It's probably good practice _not_ to give it a name such as GUEST or NETGUEST, etc., but it usually doesn't matter.

2. The NetServer TCP/IP server must be configured to _allow_ and/or _use_ 'guest' support. NetServer is the AS/400 server for its participation in Windows Network Neighborhood. It's what allows the AS/400 to be seen in the network by Windows Explorer.

To configure NetServer for this: Drill down in OpsNav through My Connections-> [as400servername]-> Network-> Servers-> TCP/IP.

In the list of TCP/IP servers, right-click the NetServer entry and select Properties. On the Advanced tab, click [Next start] if a 'guest' is not already shown. In the Advanced Next Start window, enter the profile you created. Click [Ok]. Click [Ok] in the Properties window.

Then, right-click the NetServer entry agian and select Stop. You might need to refresh that list a time or two to see that its status shows stopped. Then right-click and select 'Reset and Start' to bring the new settings into force.

That should get you to a good starting point.

Once NetServer is ready, you probably should start a PC fresh to ensure there are no cached connections. After normal Windows networking starts, see if a drive can be mapped by drilling through Windows Explorer into the server name that's exported by NetServer. (You might make a note of that when viewing NetServer properties above.)

Use a fresh-start PC and do the test with a Windows user that doesn't match any AS/400 user.

Results will guide further questions.

Tom