# Windows shares auto dismount



## tlfeet (May 23, 2005)

Hi,

Have not seen this Tiger bug reported.
May not even be a bug, I guess, may have some setting wrong.

Problem:
Mounted shares (folders) auto dismount from my Powerbook (1.67 ghz w 10.4.1 and same issue in 10.4) desktop, either:

1. as I am working - and length of time varies
2. always when PB goes to sleep

So then, if when they decide to dismount/eject themselves I have to remount them.
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I have no problem connecting, reconnecting, i.e.. mounting them, nor accessing files/folders within them. (e.g., i.e. not getting -36 error many are reporting)
Indeed, except for this auto-dismounts/ejects issue 10.4 works better than (10.1.4 thru 10.3.8)
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Procedure:
Mount various shares (folders) on various machines (XP wintel boxes) on our Windwos 2000 server network.

By going to Finder>Go>Connect to Server, have most of the ones I access listed, so select it, click Connect, the share appears on the desktop

That is, all works fine until here.

As I am working, either with files from the share, or say in email app. well to my utter amazament the shares disappear from the desktop.
In this case, the amount of time seems to be random, that is it may stay on my desktop for a few minutes, or a couple of hours, but eventually, the all on their own go bye-bye.

And/or if PB goes to sleep, well then they always go away.

In either case I have to remount/reconnect to them.
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Has anybody else seen this?
Or am I batty?

Is there some setting, somewhere, that I forgot to set up?
Any fixes?  Any ideas?

Thanks.


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## michaelsanford (May 24, 2005)

MacOS X Panther (and I assume Tiger but can't be 100% sure since I don't have it) uses an automounter to mount remote non-AFP shares like NFS and presumably Samba, which is Windows. If you request the share it will automatically be mounted, but the drawback to that is that it will be unmounted when inactive for some amount of time. Someone will be able to confirm this in Tiger, and probably tell you where you can change the timeout (it's probbaly in NetInfo somewhere).

About going to sleep, yeah your shares will unmount when it sleeps because your network connection gets broken--this isn't a bug, this is what going to sleep does.


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## tlfeet (May 24, 2005)

Hi Michael,

Yes, there may be a setting somewhere ... I hope.
But the length of time varies ... seems to be random.

Sometimes a given share will stay mounted for an hour or so, the next time a few minutes.

As to sleep dropping shares, it may be it is suppose to work that way, but:
1. I wish it wouldn't (even if it dropped the connection, it seems to me it could get it back upon waking

2. In pre-Tiger it did not dismount shares when sleeping/waking ... they would still be there.

Thaks for the tips ... will have to dig around in NetInfo manager or such.


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## michaelsanford (May 24, 2005)

My Panther AFP shares disappeared when I slept/woke, NFS shares didn't do anything special though.

I should point out though that what I said about the automounter is only if you're not accessing the share. If you're reading and writing to the share often then it shouldn't be unmounting it. That could be symptomatic of a problem with the Windows file server.


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## tlfeet (May 24, 2005)

Hi again Michael;

"I should point out though that what I said about the automounter is only if you're not accessing the share."

Well, part of the problem or my lack of understanding.

I first noticed this, as I was working in/on an Excel file, located on the network, saving as I go along.
Then went to save and got error message, to te effect "Can't save to path, as it can't find the path."

So, panic mode sets in,  - so I look over and no icon for the share, minimized windows, not stuck in some odd spot on desktop, open finder ... not listed.

"Oh, I must have accidentally ejected it ... remount ... working on my Excel file ... keeping an eye on the share ... a voila, it disappears."

So by "not accessing the share" 
Do you mean not navigating within it, 
Or not using/accessing files saved/stoed there?

Thanks.

PS I do not think AFP is turned on for our server (do windows servers have such a feature?)


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## michaelsanford (May 24, 2005)

No Windows doesn't have AFP, I was just menitoning it FYI.

By 'using' I mean any kind of reading or writing which includes navigating, saving a file, opening a file, whatever. Anything that would access the disk. Since you say you save often, automatic unmounting _should_n't be a problem.

I agree that it sounds a bit strange. It could well be a bug in Tiger (which I don't have). Possibly err someone with Tiger can lend some ingisht


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## cockneygeezer (May 25, 2005)

Dear TLFeet

So you are connect to Windows Shares via SMB and after a certain length of time, the shares disconnect themselves? Is that the problem?

I have to admit, I have never had this problem with my Mac in my work environment, and I log on my windows shares all day.

Have you had a word with your Network Administrator. Maybe, they have a setting on the share to discount users after a certain amount of idle time?

It would make sense?

Or so, do you have a dodgey network cable?

Hope it helps?


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## tlfeet (May 25, 2005)

Hi cockneygeezer,

Yes, had world w network admin.
No timeouts, no kick "X" out/off. etc.

Had no problem with this angle until 10.4, now 10.4.1

And yes, the problem is mount a share, can opne it, navigate it, open files, save files, delete files, move files, etc. etc.

It is just that after an apparantly random period of time, the share dismounts/ejects/disappears from desktop (and no longer shows up in finder, etc.)
Have to remount it to continue work.

Net admin has not turned on any of the features of Windows 2000 Server that are suppose to help Macs - whatever they are - but Net Admin has not done anything to make it more difficult or put up roadblocks or such.

Only thing is - and this is the pain, they will not support my Mac - e.g. do any debugging, testing, reconfiguring, add-ons or such ... if my Mac works, great, if not ... it is my tough luck.

This never happened until 10.4 (had other problems with Windows networking pre 10.4 - e.g. browse never worked, keychain would remeber login/password, but never actually use them & some others)

Indeed, other than this auto-dismount issue 10.4 is working like a charm vis a vis windows networking


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## egilDOTnet (Oct 26, 2005)

I see the exact same problem at my part, after sleep (especially) the drives are disconnected. This must be due to some setting in Tiger, for I also did not experience this in previous OS X versions.

There are some samba settings, at least on the server side, related to disconnects, but I have no idea where to set these on the client side, or force Tiger to try a reconnect. I always get that disconnect dialog after sleep, and its nagging me!


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## tlfeet (Oct 26, 2005)

Hi egilDOTnet,

I ahven't heard anything on this issue, in last few months.

I posted in a couple mac related forums.
It does seem to be a bug with Tiger (can't remember what forum/thread some guru "confirmed" it.)

Never did find any sort of acknowledgement from Apple on it (even called tech support a few times).

In my case sleep does not be the cause or any way related.
Computer can go to sleep, wake and still have the connection.

Conversely, I can be working on a file, which resides on the network share, and right in the middle of working on it ... the sahre drops off.

No ryhme reason to how long they stay mounted.

Have noticed, if I mount a shared folder on/from a windows (XP) workstation ... those stay mounted.
It is only with shares on our servers that drop off at random.

So really, doubly wierd.

Now that I know what is going on ... no big deal really ... I just remount the shares (even set up an automator app to mount the shares I use most frequently)

Just plain wierd and a bit annoying.


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## egilDOTnet (Oct 26, 2005)

I mostly connect to samba shares on *nix, like freebsd, so its quite obvious a client problem. Care to send me your automator app? try egil at egil dot net for emailing 

Let's hope this is fixed in a subsequent patch (10.4.3??) as it's really annoying, and also kind-of disrupting!


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## tlfeet (Oct 26, 2005)

Hi egildotnet,

automator app is on its way.
I stuffed it ... if you prefer zip let me know,

My email is tlfeet at cox dot net


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## mbryson (Feb 23, 2006)

Did anyone ever find resolution to this?  We've recently upgraded four machines to 2.7 Ghz and Tiger OS.  The only problem with the new machines is very similar.  Doesn't matter if it's a Windows server, Novell or *nix server......

I've got an old G4 running 10.4.5 (currently) and it has had the exact same issues at the 10.4 level as it does with any patches I've applied.  (G4 was previously running Panther with no issues whatsoever.  Basicly, I doubt it's a network config issue {unless it's related to Tiger} or hardware issue on the workstation.)  I'm pretty confident it's Tiger related in some way.


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## tlfeet (Mar 20, 2006)

Hi mbryson,



			
				mbryson said:
			
		

> Did anyone ever find resolution to this?  We've recently upgraded four machines to 2.7 Ghz and Tiger OS.  The only problem with the new machines is very similar.  Doesn't matter if it's a Windows server, Novell or *nix server......
> (...)



I believe if you config the Windows server in the right way, then the problem could go away.

I do not know enough about Window server to say how.
Windows server comes with "helper" tools for Macs (Linex, Unix etc.). But what they exactly are, I do not know.

I know of no other remedy.
In my situation I was on my own and had no control of how windows server was setup ... so up a creek w/o a fix.

It also depends upon which version of windows you are running.


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## touch0ph (Oct 22, 2007)

I'm also having this same problem.  I can walk away and not use a share for a while, at the same time have a file open from the share that needs to be saved and the share is dismounted.  This has only been occuring in the past three (3) weeks or so. 

I have an Intel iMac running 10.4.10.


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## Kees Buijs (Oct 23, 2007)

touch0ph said:


> I'm also having this same problem.  I can walk away and not use a share for a while, at the same time have a file open from the share that needs to be saved and the share is dismounted.  This has only been occuring in the past three (3) weeks or so.
> 
> I have an Intel iMac running 10.4.10.



I have a similar problem, but the other way around. I understood this was a bug (or feature) of mac os, were under MAC OS 9 (shares get dismounted after some random time, either being accessed or not) to a MAC OS 10.4 server. This was part of a change in the ATFP and might be related to this problem. This problem was not there in the begin of the 10.4 server release, so some update has introduced the problem.

Theere was a post on this some time ago.


Good luck, Kees


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