I've found that the MAP.EXE command under NT doesn't work correctly.
Articles and Tips: qna
01 Jan 1999
Q.
Dear Ab-end: I've found that the MAP.EXE command under NT doesn't work correctly. I can type:
MAP J:=VOPCC\DATA:DEPTS\IS\USERS
and drive letter J: will be mapped to the root of the volume, regardless of the path, resulting in J:=VOPCC\DATA, which requires me to do a Change Directory command to get to the directory I wish to use. This is true except if my current directory is on the same drive as I map. If my working directory is on J:, then it will map the drive to the specified path. However, it does seem to work correctly if I use COMMAND.COM as the command interpreter vs. CMD. EXE, NT's default DOS command interpreter.
This anomoly with MAP.EXE under an NT CMD.EXE command prompt has really made it difficult to do many of the DOS-based administration tasks I've developed over the years using .BAT files. I've developed various work-arounds, with mixed results. My current solution is to have a second machine at my desk running DOS to do these sort of tasks. Ultimately, all my problems would be solved if MAP.EXE could function correctly under the CMD.EXE environment. Is there anybody that might be able to resolve this issue with MAP.EXE? Thanks.
NT to TNG, and Beyond
A.
Dear Beyond: Regarding this particular problem, Greg Compton at Novell states the following:
"This is a limitation of CMD.EXE that Novell cannot work around at present. Microsoft is less than interested in actually fixing the limitation, but states that this is part of the NT security model.
"Novell's Client for Windows NT v4.3 and later does allow you to set the environment variable MAPROOTOFF = 1 at startup either in a login script or the NT GUI (which you get to by going to Control Panel\system\environment) and resolve the problem for drives mapped at startup, but there is no way at the present to get around drives being mapped to the root in the NTVDM. You will get the same results with the Microsoft Client for NetWare on NT.
"So the bottom line is this has always been an issue and is an NT CMD.EXE limitation. You can workaround the problem with drives mapped with MAPROOTOFF=1 at startup, but there is no workaround after you have a desktop, nor can Novell write a fix for it without Microsoft's participation."
* Originally published in Novell AppNotes
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