%HOMEPATH%, %HOMESHARE%, and %HOMEDRIVE% variables are resolved incorrectly

This article provides a solution to an issue where the %HOMEPATH%, %HOMESHARE%, and %HOMEDRIVE% variables are resolved incorrectly.

Original KB number:   237566

Symptoms

One of the features of the Microsoft Distributed File System (DfS) is to allow users to map drives directly to folders and subfolders under a DfS share. If a user's home folder is on a DfS share, the %HOMEDRIVE% variable is mapped only to the DfS root, and not to the complete path. This behavior is evident when it's viewed from Windows NT Explorer. In addition, the %HOMEPATH% and %HOMESHARE% variables are not resolved correctly.

For example, if "Dfs_root" is the DFS root on \\Pkdfs and the user's home folder is \\Pkdfs\Dfs_root\Home\User1:

%HOMEDRIVE% (for example, drive Z) is mapped to \\Pkdfs\Dfs_root
%HOMESHARE% resolves to \\Pkdfs\Dfs_root
%HOMEPATH% resolves to \Home\User1.

Instead, %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMESHARE% should resolve to \\Pkdfs\Dfs_root\Home\User1, %HOMEPATH% should resolve to \, and %HOMEDRIVE% (Z:) should map to \\Pkdfs\Dfs_root\Home\User1.

Resolution

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition.

Status

Microsoft has confirmed that it's a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Server, Terminal Server Edition, Service Pack 5.