way to map a network drive consistently and automatically

i could use some help here and thought maybe someone would have some info.

first the background...i hooked up a buddies office to a linksys wireless router (the wireless B older one, don't remember model #) and put his laptop running XP and another office computer running 2000 on the network.

first odd thing is that if I put them both in the same workgroup, they couldn't see each other. put them in two different workgroups, could see each other. the xp firewall is off. i then shared 2 folders on the 2000 computer that have the data the laptop needs to get at. i haven't done anything other than that.

problem: the xp laptop seems to lose the network mapping to the other computer, even though i have save the login in password to the 2000 computer and said reconnect at login.

something changes, but then I can always get it to hook up again if i go find the folder and map to it again.

so....what can I do to fix this and is there a way to make a batch script or something that will make sure that map and connection is solid.

thanks in advance.

You can make a batch file easily, net use command switches allow a persistant switch (net commands here)

I believe you can also alter the timeout in the registry for a mapped drive to make it persist. try this