InitializeDefaultDrives Error message on Startup

[malckelly]

When I fire up powershell I get in red letters:

"Attempting to perform the InitializeDefaultDrives operation on the
'FileSystem' provider failed."

I have a whole load of mapped network drives but I don't think that any of
these are the problem. We also use SoftGrid which means that Q: is in use,
but totally inaccesible. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be part
of the problem.

Can anyone else shed some light on this error?

Thanks

[Oisin Grehan]

Post by malckelly
"Attempting to perform the InitializeDefaultDrives operation on the
'FileSystem' provider failed."
I have a whole load of mapped network drives but I don't think that any of
these are the problem. We also use SoftGrid which means that Q: is in use,
but totally inaccesible. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be part
of the problem.
Can anyone else shed some light on this error?
Thanks

Hi,

The initializedefaultdrives operation does exactly what it says on the
tin: it creates a powershell drive for each of your windows fat/ntfs/
cifs drives. If this is failing, you are almost certainly correct in
saying that it is one of your mapped drives that is causing the
problem. You can find out exactly which one by attempting to map them
manually one by one until you get an error. For example:

Your windows drive is p: and is mapped to \\server\share

ps> new-psdrive -name p -psprovider filesystem -root p:\

Note that you don't use the colon : in the name, just the plain
letter.

Let us know how you get on.

- Oisin / x0n
http://www.nivot.org

[malckelly]

I have created new psdrives for all drives that appear under my computer (c,
e, f, g, l, n, o, r, v). All of these drives appear under My Computer. The
only one that doesn't appear under 'get-psdrives' is q: (the softgrid drive).
Technically that drive isn't a partition on any local disk or a network
location of any kind. Its virtual and you can't access it through my
computer. I have tried creating it as a psdrive in powershell but I get

New-PSDrive : Drive root "q:\" does not exist or it's not a folder.

Likewise I can't access it through the GUI.

Any other ideas?

Post by Oisin Grehan

Post by malckelly
"Attempting to perform the InitializeDefaultDrives operation on the
'FileSystem' provider failed."
I have a whole load of mapped network drives but I don't think that any of
these are the problem. We also use SoftGrid which means that Q: is in use,
but totally inaccesible. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be part
of the problem.
Can anyone else shed some light on this error?
Thanks

Hi,
The initializedefaultdrives operation does exactly what it says on the
tin: it creates a powershell drive for each of your windows fat/ntfs/
cifs drives. If this is failing, you are almost certainly correct in
saying that it is one of your mapped drives that is causing the
problem. You can find out exactly which one by attempting to map them
Your windows drive is p: and is mapped to \\server\share
ps> new-psdrive -name p -psprovider filesystem -root p:\
Note that you don't use the colon : in the name, just the plain
letter.
Let us know how you get on.
- Oisin / x0n
http://www.nivot.org

[Oisin Grehan]

Post by malckelly
I have created new psdrives for all drives that appear under my computer (c,
e, f, g, l, n, o, r, v). All of these drives appear under My Computer. The
only one that doesn't appear under 'get-psdrives' is q: (the softgrid drive).
Technically that drive isn't a partition on any local disk or a network
location of any kind. Its virtual and you can't access it through my
computer. I have tried creating it as a psdrive in powershell but I get
New-PSDrive : Drive root "q:\" does not exist or it's not a folder.
Likewise I can't access it through the GUI.
Any other ideas?

Post by Oisin Grehan

Post by malckelly
"Attempting to perform the InitializeDefaultDrives operation on the
'FileSystem' provider failed."
I have a whole load of mapped network drives but I don't think that any of
these are the problem. We also use SoftGrid which means that Q: is in use,
but totally inaccesible. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be part
of the problem.
Can anyone else shed some light on this error?
Thanks

Hi,
The initializedefaultdrives operation does exactly what it says on the
tin: it creates a powershell drive for each of your windows fat/ntfs/
cifs drives. If this is failing, you are almost certainly correct in
saying that it is one of your mapped drives that is causing the
problem. You can find out exactly which one by attempting to map them
Your windows drive is p: and is mapped to \\server\share
ps> new-psdrive -name p -psprovider filesystem -root p:\
Note that you don't use the colon : in the name, just the plain
letter.
Let us know how you get on.
- Oisin / x0n
http://www.nivot.org- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

What answers do you get for:

ps> test-path -type container filesystem::q:\

...and:

ps> test-path -type leaf filesystem::q:\


If all else fails, you may be able to avoid the error by following the
procedure here (if it makes sense for you - I haven't had a chance to
play with softgrid yet)

"How to hide and to restrict access to the SoftGrid Client drive
letter"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931626

Hope this helps,

- Oisin

- Oisin

[malckelly]

75> Test-Path -type container filesystem::q:\
False
76> Test-Path -type leaf filesystem::q:\
False

Will try the support article and let you know how it goes.

Thanks very much.

Post by Oisin Grehan

Post by malckelly
I have created new psdrives for all drives that appear under my computer (c,
e, f, g, l, n, o, r, v). All of these drives appear under My Computer. The
only one that doesn't appear under 'get-psdrives' is q: (the softgrid drive).
Technically that drive isn't a partition on any local disk or a network
location of any kind. Its virtual and you can't access it through my
computer. I have tried creating it as a psdrive in powershell but I get
New-PSDrive : Drive root "q:\" does not exist or it's not a folder.
Likewise I can't access it through the GUI.
Any other ideas?

Post by Oisin Grehan

Post by malckelly
"Attempting to perform the InitializeDefaultDrives operation on the
'FileSystem' provider failed."
I have a whole load of mapped network drives but I don't think that any of
these are the problem. We also use SoftGrid which means that Q: is in use,
but totally inaccesible. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be part
of the problem.
Can anyone else shed some light on this error?
Thanks

Hi,
The initializedefaultdrives operation does exactly what it says on the
tin: it creates a powershell drive for each of your windows fat/ntfs/
cifs drives. If this is failing, you are almost certainly correct in
saying that it is one of your mapped drives that is causing the
problem. You can find out exactly which one by attempting to map them
Your windows drive is p: and is mapped to \\server\share
ps> new-psdrive -name p -psprovider filesystem -root p:\
Note that you don't use the colon : in the name, just the plain
letter.
Let us know how you get on.
- Oisin / x0n
http://www.nivot.org- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

ps> test-path -type container filesystem::q:\
ps> test-path -type leaf filesystem::q:\
If all else fails, you may be able to avoid the error by following the
procedure here (if it makes sense for you - I haven't had a chance to
play with softgrid yet)
"How to hide and to restrict access to the SoftGrid Client drive
letter"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931626
Hope this helps,
- Oisin
- Oisin

[malckelly]

Ok I just setup a fresh Vista machine with current hotfixes/updates +
powershell and no SoftGrid Client to check for sure if it is softgrid's Q:
that is causing this and it looks extremeley likely. I'm now getting
absolutely no errors on powershell launch.
Still to try the GP change that was suggested.

Post by malckelly
75> Test-Path -type container filesystem::q:\
False
76> Test-Path -type leaf filesystem::q:\
False
Will try the support article and let you know how it goes.
Thanks very much.

Post by Oisin Grehan

Post by malckelly
I have created new psdrives for all drives that appear under my computer (c,
e, f, g, l, n, o, r, v). All of these drives appear under My Computer. The
only one that doesn't appear under 'get-psdrives' is q: (the softgrid drive).
Technically that drive isn't a partition on any local disk or a network
location of any kind. Its virtual and you can't access it through my
computer. I have tried creating it as a psdrive in powershell but I get
New-PSDrive : Drive root "q:\" does not exist or it's not a folder.
Likewise I can't access it through the GUI.
Any other ideas?

Post by Oisin Grehan

Post by malckelly
"Attempting to perform the InitializeDefaultDrives operation on the
'FileSystem' provider failed."
I have a whole load of mapped network drives but I don't think that any of
these are the problem. We also use SoftGrid which means that Q: is in use,
but totally inaccesible. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be part
of the problem.
Can anyone else shed some light on this error?
Thanks

Hi,
The initializedefaultdrives operation does exactly what it says on the
tin: it creates a powershell drive for each of your windows fat/ntfs/
cifs drives. If this is failing, you are almost certainly correct in
saying that it is one of your mapped drives that is causing the
problem. You can find out exactly which one by attempting to map them
Your windows drive is p: and is mapped to \\server\share
ps> new-psdrive -name p -psprovider filesystem -root p:\
Note that you don't use the colon : in the name, just the plain
letter.
Let us know how you get on.
- Oisin / x0n
http://www.nivot.org- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

ps> test-path -type container filesystem::q:\
ps> test-path -type leaf filesystem::q:\
If all else fails, you may be able to avoid the error by following the
procedure here (if it makes sense for you - I haven't had a chance to
play with softgrid yet)
"How to hide and to restrict access to the SoftGrid Client drive
letter"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931626
Hope this helps,
- Oisin
- Oisin