DIY SysAdmin

לוח אם

“Could not reconnect all network drives” after hibernating several times in windows 7

Disclaimer; this one is not a 100% sure fix, I had this problem in XP as well, but since I did not check the solution then, I cannot be sure it is the same DNA.

I do not shut down my windows every day, it takes time to boot & it is not really necessary to reboot your windows every day, once a week is highly sufficient. Instead I am hibernating it so the wake up is really fast, incidentally the new win 8 shut down is based exactly on the same scheme. For you information, the environment is win 7, win server 2003 SP2 and Active Dirs. For weeks now I had this problem, after 4 to 6 Hibernation cycles , on the wake up I get this infuriating message “Could not reconnect all network drives” and I have to reboot, nothing else help.

So I began monitoring the problem after the first case (I remembered I had the same problem In XP and I wanted to kill this one in the bud). I invested a few hours in really mining the web for answers, but did not find anything that closely resembles my problem. I though, and I am still thinking that it may be a server related issue, but I persevered on the workstation side.

I did remembered that a week before the first cases I accidentally set a small Dir to be available offline, so I disabled offline files to check the theory, since it happen only after a few hibernating circles I had to wait a week or until the next occurrence to be sure. To my surprise (I was sure I had nailed it) the dreaded message came 3 days later. I was quite sure I was on to something, so I persevered on this line of investigation. To make a long story short, those are the steps i took.

  • I re enabled the offline files & severed the sync tie. No go.
  • I deleted the offline temp files. No go. But on the next case of disconnected drives I could still see the files when I was offline. Ha ha, I was onto something, the offline files are still there, even after you stop the sync partnership! (see my blog about completely closing sync partnership)
  • I deleted all the offline files and tried again. Eureka!

A week and about 10 hibernation cycles latter, I am still working on the computer and on my server.

So it seems that working with offline files, preclude using hibernating too much, and vice-versa, I will have to check that with win server 2008 when I have time.

I hope this will be of use to anyone out there that had the same problem.

This post is not an official guide and all the usual precautions should be taken before implementing it. Backup your Data (see my blog about that), make a System Restore Point, create a system image or a system disk. In short take any precautions you deem necessary to save guard your work and your system.

דילוג לתוכן