How do I purge or empty Windows Explorer's network username and sharename cache?
- by Abel
While troubleshooting a Samba vs Windows Network issue, I noticed that Windows' Explorer remembers login credentials of remote shares, even if you ask it not to. For instance, after accessing a share using \\servername\sharename plus entering username/password and then closing Windows Explorer, adding the same share as a network drive gives the following message, regardless whether the username is the same or not:
The network folder specified is
currently mapped using a different
user name and password.
To connect using a different user name
and password, first disconnect any
existing mappings to this network
share.
Using NET USE does not show the share. After restarting the computer, I have no problems accessing the share using different credentials. But restarting just for testing other credentials is annoying, esp. while troubleshooting. How can I purge this cache, using Windows Vista?
Note: using nbtstat -R[R], ipconfig /renew, killing explorer.exe or disabling / re-enabling the network card didn't help.
