I'm in the process of rolling out new devices at work and we're considering moving to Intune and SharePoint in the near future. Currently, our devices are domain joined, but we're not utilizing Group Policy Objects (GPOs) aside from the defaults. The only main dependencies are for authenticating to two applications and accessing shared files.
So, I thought about joining the new devices using Entra and planning to enroll them in Intune later on. User accounts are synced, allowing access to the apps and file shares, but I've been struggling with ensuring that the mapped drives stay connected after reboots or sign-ins.
What's the most effective way to ensure that the drives I map on these new Entra devices reconnect reliably? And if I'm going about this the wrong way, I'd appreciate any advice! I'm considering a few options:
1. Hybrid joining the devices, but I'd prefer not to if we're moving towards Intune enrollment soon.
2. Suggesting they consider Intune licensing right away so I can manage mappings through it.
3. Creating a local GPO or scheduled task on each device to ensure consistent drive mappings.
2 Answers
Creating a solid script for mapping those drives could be your best bet. Host that script on your file share and put a shortcut in the startup folder to run it with a hidden window. This way, every time users log in, it’ll map the drives automatically.
This might not be what you want to hear, but we've banned automatic drive mapping at our company. The risk is too high—one user falling victim to encryption malware can really mess up your server backups.
Totally agree! Ransomware can spread through UNC paths too.
Yeah, I've heard of backups going to tape. Not the best recovery method nowadays!