Windows System error 1219, multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user

Here's a funny one I ran into earlier.

So I try to mount a SAMBA share on a Windows system. I get this error:



Wait, are you telling me that I am restricted to having only one share subdirectory connected per PC? What happens if I need two? Now that's some crappy engineering right there Batman!

Oh, I know what this is. It's probably one of those Windows "features" and if I do the same thing from the command line, it'll just work, right? Right? Wrong.

F:\Documents and Settings\user>net use Q: \\192.168.0.254\DIR2 /USER:shareuser /PERSISTENT:NO
The password is invalid for \\192.168.0.254\DIR2.

Enter the password for 'shareuser' to connect to '192.168.0.254':
Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again..

Through some digging I managed to find out that this is by design. Windows will connect to a share once; if you try to connect again, it will block you. If you want to connect to a different subdirectory of your SAMBA server, you will need to disconnect from the one you are currently connected to.

Fret not though, for this is Windows; home of the crappiest, nastiest pieces of engineering ever came to existence.

Workaround? Just edit your %WINDIR%/system32/drivers/etc/hosts file and add some more entries that correspond to your share's IP address. For instance:

192.168.0.254 foo
192.168.0.254 bar
192.168.0.254 foobar
192.168.0.254 fubar

And now I can connect to my share using my new aliases:

F:\Documents and Settings\user>net use Q: \\fubar\DIR2 /USER:shareuser /PERSISTENT:NO
The password is invalid for \\fubar\DIR2.

Enter the password for 'shareuser' to connect to 'fubar':
The command completed successfully.

Oh Windows how I hate thee with all my passion.