So what does the Group Policy Preferences Drive Mapping log file contain?

Once you enable the logging via Group Policy, you’ll end up with a log file which contains:

• Environment variable dump
• Group Policy settings
• Drive mapping lists (but not the actual path)

If you are like me, and misspell a file path, you’ll see an error like this:

2016-03-31 10:44:47.981 [pid=0x45c,tid=0x53c] Passed filter [FilterGroup].
2016-03-31 10:44:47.981 [pid=0x45c,tid=0x53c] Filters passed.
2016-03-31 10:44:47.981 [pid=0x45c,tid=0x53c] Set user security context.
2016-03-31 10:44:47.981 [pid=0x45c,tid=0x53c] Adding child elements to RSOP.
2016-03-31 10:48:21.652 [pid=0x45c,tid=0x53c] Properties handled. [ hr = 0x80070035 "The network path was not found." ]
2016-03-31 10:48:21.652 [pid=0x45c,tid=0x53c] Set system security context.
2016-03-31 10:48:21.668 [pid=0x45c,tid=0x53c] EVENT : The user 'G:' preference item in the 'Map-Network-Drives {E089D01A-C249-48F5-8049-9C8FC96AA38F}' Group Policy object did not apply because it failed with error code '0x80070035 The network path was not found.'%100790273
2016-03-31 10:48:21.668 [pid=0x45c,tid=0x53c] Error suppressed. [ hr = 0x80070035 "The network path was not found." ]
2016-03-31 10:48:21.668 [pid=0x45c,tid=0x53c] Completed class <Drive> - G:.
2016-03-31 10:48:21.668 [pid=0x45c,tid=0x53c] {67803C61-824B-4ABA-ABFF-65E8687B0E59}

Three things to note:

1. Windows Explorer will accept a “\” in a network path, Group Policy Preferences won’t.
   ie.  \\NODDYLAND\HOMEDRIVE\BE01\ vs \\NODDYLAND\HOMEDRIVE\BE01
2. GPP will wait 3+ seconds before timing out with an error.
   Multiple wrong/missing paths will slow down your user’s logon experience.
3. The error will also write into the Event Log.

Related posts:

1. AppLocker, ActiveSetup, Group Policy; all the dumb things
2. Group Policy and WMI filtering slowness.
3. Disabling Windows Update via Group Policy

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