Sharing resources across different location is the beauty of networked computer. The Local Area Network (LAN) is very useful in file sharing. We have a Microsoft Windows 2000 file server where our client server applications, working files and other source files are stored. This allows consolidated storage of all the files.

Network drive mapping is a common and simple way that is used in accessing the stored files in the file server. We have assigned a drive letter to map with a directory in the network server. This is the common thing that we have done and it works well for our simple needs.

I encountered a problem regarding mapped drive on Windows XP after upgrading to Service Pack 3. The mapped network drive function does not work and it throws an error - “the drive could not be mapped because no network was found”. This seems strange as everything works fine prior to the upgrade. I was thinking of removing the SP3, but not just yet. After some searching and reading, I have found out that this was caused possibly by a Windows Workstation Service.

On the windows help Workstation Service is described as follows:

Creates and maintains client network connections to remote servers using the SMB protocol. If this service is stopped, these connections will be unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.
source: Windows Help

The important part of the description above is about SMB. I would like to shed light below on what is SMB.

SMB, which stands for Server Message Block, is a protocol for sharing files, printers, serial ports, and communications abstractions such as named pipes and mail slots between computers.
source: http://samba.anu.edu.au/cifs/docs/what-is-smb.html

Thus, SMB protocol is vital for file sharing such as mapped network drives. Checking the Windows Services status have shown it was not running and disabled. Since, this maintains client network connections Workstation Service should be running.

The Workstation Service startup type should be set to Automatic start; so that it will automatically start during start up of the system. After the Workstation Service was started the Windows XP SP3 map network drive error message - “the drive could not be mapped because no network was found” have disappeared. There might be some other issues that cause this error like if the Workstation Service could not be started. A quick check if the dependent service is started automatically also would be helpful.

Having the mapped network drive back have made accessing files shared normal again. It was at first difficult to figure, but I am happy that this is finally resolved. I would never have to be bothered by Netdrive Software in mapping network drives.