Windows troubleshooting

Windows error “Cannot map drive as drive is already mapped by another user”:

• This gave me major headaches on my 64bit Win 7 pro machine with a persistent mapped drive which failed to connect, and attempts to re-map it after deleting it and rebooting computer failed with the above error.
• This may occur even though the drive is NOT mapped and thus is not visible in Explorer to unmap it.
• Even running NET USE z: /delete gives an error – unable to delete mapped drive z: as no drive found
• SOLUTION: Go to Control Panel, Credentials and delete the credentials for that drive, then try mapping drive again and it should work!
• NB. many seem to advise against having persistent mapped drives, but they suit me.

Installing fax driver for a networked Ricoh printer/fax:

• download LAN Fax driver from Ricoh website and extract files to a folder
• now you can’t just right click on the .inf file and select Install, this won’t work
• nor can you search for the printer and try to choose the downloaded driver as you get incorrect driver error
• SOLUTION:
• ping the printer to get the IP address
• In Printers, Add Printer, select Create port and choose TCP/IP, then set the IP address of the printer, uncheck box to retrieve driver details, and choose have disk button instead
• browse to the folder you created and choose the .inf file and follow instructions.
• Now, you will see a fax driver in your Printers section which connects to that fax printer and can be accessed by selecting it as the printer in your application printer options and user will be displayed a fax set up dialog but unfortunately, it does not show up in Microsoft Fax software…. hmmm..
• Unfortunately, it is not obvious how one can program this fax print driver.