Repeated prompt for user name and password when accessing AS400 IFS under Windows XP using map network drive

Question

I was trying to access the IFS using map network drive. It prompted the dialog asking for user name and password. But after I had entered them and pressed enter the same dialog appeared again. No matter how many times I press enter it kept prompting the same dialog and it did not suggest that the information was incorrect. I could use another user profile to access this IFS without the above problem. Someone else was able to map drive it a few days ago and now it is not working. I had asked another colleague to try the same and the same problem occurred as well. So what could be the cause of this issue?

Answer 1

I have a different but maybe related problem. I use Windows 7 and an Apple Time Capsule on the network, protected by a password that is different from my password on Win 7. Of importance is that the Time capsule only needs a password but not a username (I did not realize this for a while). When I tried to connect to the Time Capsule, it repeatedly asked for a username and a password. A password alone was not sufficient, so I entered my Win 7 username with the password of the Time Capsule. After a few attempts, the connection was established, but sometimes it needed a lot of times to try. I could not realize what the problem was. After doing some research, I realized that the problem might be that the system confuses the two passwords used for the same username. Maybe it does not know which password to send to the Time Capsule or something similar. Since the Time Capsule actually does not need a username (only a password) but Win 7 does not allow the username to be empty, I started to enter nonsense usernames (e. g. "xxxx") with the correct Time Capsule password. This has solved the problem and it now works fine, even remembering the username/password combination. So the problem simply was that I used the same username with two different passwords for Win 7 and the Time Capsule and this confused the system.

Answer 2

I've encountered this when users use mixed-case passwords and the IBMi (AS400) is not configured for mixed case, see this IBM techdoc. It includes some "special" mapping techniques that I've also found useful when I have trouble with the re-prompting for credentials. You may also want to check this IBM TechDoc regarding NetServer mapping and Windows 7.

Answer 3

I get this myself, and I'm fairly sure there is an authority issue behind it. I can't map a drive with my own user, but I can with a *SECOFR-class one. I have to do it infrequently enough that I haven't bothered to get to the bottom of it, but hopefully this will of some use to someone else.

Answer 4

In addition to James' answer, something else to check is to see if the user profile has been disabled in the NetServer server. This is different that a normal disable.

To find out if this is the case, open System i Navigator from your desktop. Then expand the target AS/400->Network->Servers->TCP/IP. Right-click on I5/OS NetServer and selected "Disabled User IDs".

If you don't have the Network option in iSeries Navigator, then the other easy way to test is to log in to green screen as the target use and run CHGPRF from a command line. Then try connecting again. If the password is a problem, you'll see a message in the QSYSOPR messages indicating the user has been disabled for NetServer access.

Answer 5

I've seen this occur when the username is the same as the AS/400 username but the password is different. Also this can happen if there is an existing map to the AS/400 using different credentials.

I find the easiest way to map a drive is to use the command prompt and specify the username and password:

NET USE Z: \\<ip address or host name>\<share> 
  /USER:<username> <password> /PERSISTENT:YES

The /PERSISTENT:YES option will keep the map across reboots.