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Local drive redirection isn't working in RDP Session

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This article provides a solution to an issue where local drive redirection isn't working in RDP Session.

Applies to:   Windows Server 2003
Original KB number:   2436104

Symptoms

You may notice the following symptoms when connecting via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to a Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2003 R2 Terminal Server:

  1. Local drives aren't redirected in the RDP Session.
  2. Other devices and resources may be properly redirected.
  3. There are no events in the Event Viewer pertaining to the failure to redirect drives.

Things to Check:

  1. On the Server: Terminal Services Configuration - Connections - RDP-Tcp - Properties - Client Settings: Make sure Drive Mapping option is unchecked under Disable the Following.

  2. On the Server: Terminal Services Configuration - Connections - RDP-Tcp - Properties - Client Settings: Under Connections - Connect Client Drives at logon is selected.

  3. On the client Machine: Start - Run - MSTSC - Options - Local Resource - Make sure Disk Drives is selected.

  4. Check Resultant Set of Policy on the machine: Terminal Services Group Policies, under Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\Client/Server data redirection - Don't allow drive redirection: shouldn't be enabled.

Cause

Network Providers value for RDP might be missing in the registry.

Resolution

Make sure the Network Providers entry has at least the default entries:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order - ProviderOrder -

Default entries: RDPNP, LanmanWorkstation, web client

More information

No reboot is required after making these changes.