Networks Mapped Network Drives = Slow PC

OK, first off here's my setup:

Laptop - Has 3 user logins, one of which connects to the fileserver at work, for it's 'My Documents'. 2nd user has it's 'My Documents' stored on the laptop's HDD. 3rd user has several mapped network drives - from my media server at home:

My Documents (K)
My Music (M)
My Pictures (J)

When I'm at home and logged on as the third user (network drives mapped) my laptop hangs for a while when opening My Computer etc. I've put it down to the mapped network drives, as the other 2 logins don't have a problem, and mapping the my documents folder doesn't have any issues on the first login.

Does mapping network drives cause a delay in response on other people's setups? Is there a way around it? Is it a known issue? How can I resolve it.

It's annoying me, but I need at least the My Music map to remain (I can do '\\fileserver\k$' to change the location of my docs and pics) as my iTunes library reads from an 'M' drive (My Music) and not having M: mapped to the MP3's means I'll have to re-do the wholeeeeeeee library (anyone who uses iTunes knows how annoying it is compiling your library again, especially with over 40gb of the stuff).

In theory, my setup is a dream. I have my media server on when I get home from work, and can access 560gb~ of files on my measly 40gb laptop. But the slow response when I go to do certain things is damn annoying.

Thanks for reading!

 

I have 3 mapped drives on this box, very occationally I see a slowdown on openning 'My Computer', but not frequently, (tbh, having a cd in the drive is drastically slower, and I have always associated the slowdown with a drive spinup not network drives)

Its less then a second even when it lags.


Windows2k AS:

 

^ I see this for about 10-30 seconds, sometimes more...


^ Then finally Windows decides to let me see everything on My Computer.

Could it be that I'm accessing them over a wireless network? It's 54mbps, but still, maybe it's causing a delay?

I tried replacing all the 'M:' in my iTunes library (XML document) with '\\fileserver\m$' but Dreamweaver crashed upon opening the 18mb (or so) file, and notepad crashed after replacing about 3 instances. If anyone can recommend a way to replace all instances, without it crashing, I would appreciate it, as it would eliminate the need for network drive mapping...

 

OK, it seems I was wrong, as I've just removed the 3 mapped network drives, and I'm still getting a slow response when opening My Computer and so on.

I can't work out what is going wrong. As I have a similar setup on another user on the same machine. At work though, the wireless network is only 11mbps, and still responds fine, unlike this.

Anyone any other ideas what may be causing the delay? If not, I'll try removing the user account and setting up another, with the same login info (for administrative shares)...

 

Google found this, but I haven't tried it myself.

 

try using normal shares rather than hidden administrative shares, might make a difference
tbh i've always found windows workgroup networking horrificly slow anyway

 

Workgroup networking is pretty damn slow... I have a small home network and sometimes it'll lag like hell trying to access a share with more than 100 objects in it in a similar way to yours (i.e. with that annoying animated torch - see my avatar ). Thankfully, I don't use the file feature much at all; it's mainly for Internet access.

 

I'll try it, I originally chose to use administrative shares on My Documents, as it contained sensitive information, that I didn't want other people in the house messing with. Though I since learned how to make folders accessible by only certain people, so I'll remove them tonight.

As for the registry edit, I'll try that too, it doesn't state if it should be done on just the computer you're using to access the shared files, or the computer with the shared files on. So I'll try both.

This is the only thing with Windows Networking that's annoying me now. Once it stops 'torching' then it's fine. But it's the searching that is stupid...

EDIT: I don't get the slow response problem at work, but the setup is almost identical, though with a slower 11mbps wireless network... think it could be to do with administrative shares, maybe it's checking I have authority to access the shares or not?

 

i was having this problem but i removed the share to my printer's memory card reader and everything seemed to sort itself out.

what you could do though is map the drives when each user logs on through a bat file that is ran from their start up folder in the start menu.

 

it is but thats because its a workgroup, everytime you access a share you have to authenticate with the 'server' machine, which is slow
on a domain you just authenticate with the DC and are insta-recognised by all other machines on the network, which is fast

 

Stupid question (as I've never worked with domains), but how easy is it to setup a domina instead of workgroup, and do I need any extra hardware/software?

 

yea you need a windows server OS (2000 or 2003)

 

OK. I'll try removing the admin shares ($) and see if I can get it working as normal. Hopefully it will resolve it...

It's not worth me installing a server OS just for a small home network (1 server, 5 clients).

 

All the registry edit does is when you browse to a computer on your network viewing its shares it normally takes the computers schedule tasks and makes them viewable across the network, the registry edit just stops that from happening so there is less load time.

 

Probably not if its a windows server. You can use Kerberos on linux to run a domain but I dont know a huge deal about how.

 

Don't remove the $ shares, they are required for system use.
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...read/thread/53ad1e8ad7e8def3/9b17854ccad4c285
Have a look at that.

edit: checking your event viewer is always good practice!

 

Admin$ and C$ (other drives with a $) can be safely turned off... but IPC$, NETLOGON, PRINT$, FAX$ come back...

This site has a good registry hack...
http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/FileSharing/Windows/facstaff2k.html

 

First make sure you have no spyware or adware...
Second, make sure you have updated drivers, ide and nic...
Third, do a defrag on all hd's...
Fourth, make sure that your nic settings are on auto neg for 10/100
Also, instead of DHCP try setting a static IP for the server

 

That is just a guide not a registry hack.

 

The link is on the site... didn't realize it was only for wellesly students...