Question : Novell client maps drives differently than Microsoft client

I have a customer that has a Netware 5 server. They use the Microsoft client NOT the Novell client (I know, I know). I want to move them over to the Novell client but the Novell client maps the drives differently than the Microsoft client. They literally NEVER touch the server and can't handle much change without calling me every day so I need to make it as transparent for them as possible. Why does Novell map the drives differently? It looks like Microsoft maps to the root for each drive letter (ie. they are all the same) and Novell maps to different levels on the drive. Where do the drive mappings come from? How do I duplicate the mappings so that all of their shortcuts work correctly? They have WinXP clients. By the way, I know absolutely nothing (well, very little anyway) about Netware so keep it simple. Thanks.

Answer : Novell client maps drives differently than Microsoft client

There is a setting in the Windows environment you can use, MAPROOTOFF=1, which will make the Windows "always map root" default behave like it's supposed to.

Starting with Windows NT, IIRC, Microsoft chose to always map root as a default.

Or, as alextoft said, use MAP ROOT in the login script to make the Novell client's mappings look like the Windows crapware(tm) client's mapping.

In NetWare 5, login scripts could be in a number of places.  There is a container login script, that runs for users in that container.  It's an attribute of the container object.  There's also a login script object type, which will run for anyone with that login script specified in their user object, on the "login script" tab, in the "profile login script" box.

There's also user login scripts, which only run for that user, after the container or profile login script.  It's an attribute of the user object.

There's also a "default" login script, that cannot be changed, that runs even if no other login scripts are defined, unless you specify "NO_DEFAULT" in the highest-level login script.

You can also "chain" container scripts and profile scripts using an include statement.

WRT the "don't say Novell when you mean NetWare" kind of comment you'll frequently get in this zone:  Novell is a company.  Microsoft is a company. NetWare is a NOS, a product of the company, Novell.  Windows is an overblown desktop OS with networking kludged in to make it sort-of a NOS, and is a product of the company, Microsoft.

The problem we have with people saying "Novell" when referring to the product NetWare, is that people then assume (and you know what happens when we assume...) that when they read or hear "Novell" that it means the product NetWare.  The problem with that is, Novell makes a whole lot of other products, not just NetWare - and they don't need NetWare to run.  Unlike Microsoft, Novell makes their products multi-platform.  So, when some PHB decides that their company is "upgrading" (ahem.  It's a migration to a lesser platform, not an upgrade) from "Novell" to Windows, they automatically shut out use of any of Novell's other products, even though they DO run on Windows, or Linux, or Solaris... or NetWare.  They hear someone say "Let's get ZENworks Configuration Management" and see that it's "Novell" and say "We just got rid of Novell."  Sure, it's stupid, but that's the way PHB's think.

We need to make sure the PHB's know that NetWare is not "Novell" but a product of the company Novell, and when they hear/see "Novell" it does not mean "NetWare" but a software company that has many excellent, often best-in-class products (like ZENworks).

By the way, (shameless plug) - ZENworks Configuration Management not only can run on Windows or Linux natively on the server side, it can also use Active Directory (or, probably, any other LDAP-accessible directory) - it doesn't even require the far-superior eDirectory any more. so that argument against it is out the door.  The only struggle would be against the PHB's that have been convinced (by people using "Novell" when they mean "NetWare") that if they get ZCM they're getting NetWare again.