Windows 7: The local device name is already in use

Question

I try to map a network resource to my local device.

I receive the following error: The local device name is already in use.

I have the problem to find which purpose the device is used for. I try a command net use and do not see it in the list, therefore, it is not mapped to a network resource.

Does anybody know how to see the list of all used devices in Windows 7?

Answer 1

You need to remap the drive.

First:

net use * /delete

Then remap it using net use again:

net use Z: \\server\share /user:username password

Answer 2

Looks like it could be the following:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297694

Answer 3

One possibility that I just ran into is that you've added a device to your system that causes other "auto mapped" devices to bump up over the mapped drive.

Say you have M mapped to a network drive, but you add a new harddrive, that then causes all the removable drives (even though they don't have anything inserted into them) to bump up a letter (or two).

Now, suddenly, one of the removeable drives is mapped to M.

Your network drive can no longer be mapped to M, and when you try to remove the mapping, it'll give you a "Device already in use" error.

Open up "Storage/Disk management" and check ALL the drives for any mapping that might be on top of the drive you want to map.

If there, just remap that drive to something else.

Then you should be able to use NET USE to attach to your network drive properly.