Invalid drive error when installing software

Hello,

I've just put a clean install of Vista Ultimate on my laptop, so far only a
few problems. I use a NAS external drive to store all my data files (PSTs,
music, pictures, software downloads, my docs, etc.). So one of the first I
did upon installing Vista was to change Downloads, Documents, Music and
Pictures to the drives on my NAS drive (e.g. Documents to S:\My Documents.
But when I started installing software, e.g. Acrobat Reader 8, it came up
with Invalid Drive S:\ and refused to install. I had this with several
programs. So I swapped back Pictures, Music, Documents, etc. to folders on
my C: drive and all is fine. But I want to swap the folders back to the
ones on my NAS so why do I get this error message?

Also, slightly off-topic, while does it copy files from one NAS drive to
another like its another physical disk when it actually is on the same
physical drive? Annoying that is also puts everything copied/deleted/moved
into the trashbox folder.

Kol

Kolin Tregaskes wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've just put a clean install of Vista Ultimate on my laptop, so far
> only a few problems. I use a NAS external drive to store all my data
> files (PSTs, music, pictures, software downloads, my docs, etc.). So
> one of the first I did upon installing Vista was to change Downloads,
> Documents, Music and Pictures to the drives on my NAS drive (e.g.
> Documents to S:\My Documents. But when I started installing software,
> e.g. Acrobat Reader 8, it came up with Invalid Drive S:\ and refused to
> install. I had this with several programs. So I swapped back Pictures,
> Music, Documents, etc. to folders on my C: drive and all is fine. But I
> want to swap the folders back to the ones on my NAS so why do I get this
> error message?
>
> Also, slightly off-topic, while does it copy files from one NAS drive to
> another like its another physical disk when it actually is on the same
> physical drive? Annoying that is also puts everything
> copied/deleted/moved into the trashbox folder.

There have been numerous problems with NAS devices. Most NAS devices run
some version of Linux and may have an older Samba installed. With a NAS,
your first step is to contact the device mftr. for updated firmware
and/or any patches.

If you have the ability to control the NAS (usually no), you could try
updating its Samba to the latest version and putting this in your
smb.conf file:

client ntlmv2 auth = yes

Otherwise, you can try changing Vista's NTLMv2 settings as follows.
Please note that this works when connecting Vista to a *nix or OS X
computer; it may not work for a NAS. As I said, your first step is to
contact the NAS mftr.'s tech support.

Start>Run>secpol.msc [enter]

Click on "Local Policies" --> "Security Options"

Navigate to the policy "Network Security: LAN Manager authentication
level" and double-click it to get its Properties. By default Windows
Vista sets the policy to "NTVLM2 responses only". Use the drop-down
arrow to change this to "LM and NTLM – use NTLMV2 session security if
negotiated".

In Vista Home Premium, you won't have this tool so per Steve Winograd, do:

1. Run the registry editor and open this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Lsa

1. If it doesn't already exist, create a DWORD value named
LmCompatibilityLevel

3. Set the value to 1

4. Reboot

As for your last question, I didn't understand what you are asking -
sorry. Perhaps you can restate it or someone else will be smarter than I
am about what you want to know. :-)


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Elephantboy, that's a nice tip but likely not the problem. The issue has
to do with shares and users.

When you go into the elevated security mode during installation, all
your shares are lost! The reason being that you are no longer your user,
but “Administrator” and the shares are user specific. Makes
sense in theory but is mucho annoying in practice.

So here's how you solve it:
1. Disconnect the previously mapped network drive from Windows
Explorer.
2. Right click on Command Prompt in the Start Menu and select Run As
Administrator.
3. Type "Net Use s: \\servername\sharename"
4. Exit out of the command prompt
5. Open Windows Explorer
6. Click 'Map network drive' menu item
7. Select the s: drive and typed \\servername\sharename into the
Folder box.

Not very intuitive, but it works!

EASIER WAY: If you already have a mapped network drive, just do steps
2-4 and it should work...essentially you map it once for the user, once
for the administrator.

Don't forget that if you don't use the persistent switch for the net
use command, the mapping will be lost when you log out.


--
Starlionblue