Map Penn State UDrive Program

Version 1.0.8 3/3/2008

7/21/08. This program has been replaced by a "Map Penn State Disk Space" utility which works the same way but will connect the the new PASS service as well. Go to:
http://clc.its.psu.edu/DiskSpace/MapPsuSpace/ for details, download from
https://downloads.its.psu.edu/download.cgi?os_type=Windows&prod=PASS

Summary

The MapUDrive.exe program is a Windows program that makes it easier to connect to the UDrive and UBackup file servers from a home computer. When installed, it will set the registry values needed for your computer to authenticate with the PSU Kerberos servers (in the "realm", dce.psu.edu), which is used to secure access to the file services. The program will prompt you for your userid and password, and will use these to connect to the UDrive root folder, and/or your own folder. An optional button will connect to the "UBackup" server which has copies of all the files on the UDrive.

Installing the program does not preclude accessing the UDrive manually.

Download/Install

Click here to download/install the program. You may run MapUDrive.msi directly.

You must restart your computer after running the installer the first time in order for this program to work. If later you reinstall or update and it asks you to reboot, you probably do not have to.

This program works with Windows XP and Vista. It has not been tested with other versions; it might work on Windows 2000 but it will not install on 95/98/ME because they do not support Kerberos.

Safety

You should be cautious with any program that prompts you for a userid and/or password. A malicious programmer could slip an identical-appearing program onto your computer and steal your password. This installer, MapUDrive.msi, has been digitally signed. When downloaded with Internet Explorer, you can verify the publisher is The Pennsylvania State University, and the certificate was issued by Thawte Code Signing CA and is valid from 3/3/2008 to 3/3/2009 (if the certificate is expired continue anyway).

The program is available only as MapUDrive.msi from our server at this URL:

http://clc.its.psu.edu/DiskSpace/UDrive/Home/MapUDrive/MapUDrive.msi

Do not install the program from a different source. If the program is moved to https://downloads.its.psu.edu/ a notice will be placed here.

Basic Usage

After installing, to use the program from home:

Make a VPN connection to PSU as you have always done.
Launch MapUDrive, enter your Access Account userid (if it wasn't remembered) and your Access Account password.
Click the Connect button.

Details

Purpose

It is generally easy enough for most Windows users to "map" a file share but with the change in July 2006 to use the PSU Kerberos servers (the dce.psu.edu realm) instead of passwords in the win.psu.edu domain, there are a couple extra things to do. These are:

Set registry entries to define the dce.psu.edu Kerberos realm
Reboot (for above settings to take place)
Connect As dce.psu.edu\<userid> to map drive(s)

The first two tasks need only be done once. Mapping the UDrive folder to a drive letter can be done any time thereafter, and you can use "Connect As" from Windows Explorer if you wish, rather than this program.

If your computer is part of a Windows domain and you have to give a userid and password to log onto it, the realm settings will cause "dce.psu.edu (Kerberos Realm)" to be added to the choices of domains you can log into. Do not pick that unless your network administrator has instructed you to.

(If your domain is setup for you to log onto your computer via dce.psu.edu, then you don't need this program. You should be able to map the UDrive and UBackup without giving your userid and password, as the servers will accept your dce.psu.edu credentials.)

Features

The program will:

remember your userid and option preferences (fixed in 1.0.7);
will NOT remember your password;
detect which drive letters are free and populate a list of them;
allow you to map the "root" of the UDrive space, so you can navigate to other people's folders;
allow you to map your own folder directly, so you do not have to navigate the folder hierarchy to get to your files;
map network shares with the "persistent" attribute, so Windows will try to reconnect next time you log on your computer (doesn't always work);
tell you if the network share is already mapped at the chosen letter;
present a button to map the "UBackup" server, where you can find copies of all your files made early each morning (in case you just erased or screwed up something);
attempt to present understandable error messages;
open Windows Explorer pointing to the drive just mapped;
terminate itself after doing the above step.

Known Problems

Network name not found -- probably a VPN connection was not made first.
Does not install on Windows 95/98/ME -- this is on purpose. Those versions of Windows do not support Kerberos.
Drive already mapped -- the program attempts to detect that a drive letter is already in use before mapping it, but in some situations a drive letter can be mapped but "inactive", so there will be an error when it tries to connect.
Bad userid or password invalid:
- Be sure computer was rebooted after installing the program or setting the Kerberos registry entry.
- Verify the registry key and value shown here are set; if not, create key and value and reboot.
- If Windows 2000, verify the registry value for KdcNames is set; reboot after setting.
- Try mapping drive without the program as described here.
- Verify your userid and password here.
- Be sure you have the current version of VPN (5.0.0340 as of 4/27/07); download here.

Updates

When reinstalling the program or a new version it will say ou need to restart your system, but you probably don't. The installer can't tell if the registry key is already set (and LSA has been restarted since it was).

Additional Help

Please contact an ITS help desk if you need additional help. You need to be able to tell them:

Program version (see properties of the MapUDrive.exe or recall the date you downloaded it).
Operating system version (note: Windows 95, 98 and ME are not supported).
ISP (Internet Service Provider).
Version of the Cisco VPN client.
Steps to reproduce the problem.
Error messages.

Possible Enhancements

Things the program might do in the future:

Detect and launch VPN for you.
Fold your laundry.

Changes

Date	Version	Changes
3/3/08	1.0.8	Add \Lsa\Kerberos\HostToRealm\WIN.PSU.EDU\SpnMappings registry entry to fix problem with Vista SP1. Update code signing certificate.
8/28/06	1.0.7	Fix error in saving user options. Change installer message when running on 16-bit OS to "Windows 2000 or XP".
8/15/06	1.0.6	Don't make connection persistent. That slows down logins on home machines which will try to restore the connection before VPN is running.
8/14/06		Delete KdcNames value in registry key SYSTEM\CurentControlSet\Control\LSA\Kerberos\Domains\dce.psu.edu
5/17/06	1.0.5	Set tab order. Change dialog type show it shows up on task bar. Add minimize button.
5/3/05	1.0.4	Initial version for testing

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This page was last modified: 7/21/2008 9:31:04 AM.