What does Windows error code 2250 (ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED) mean?

ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED

The requested network connection is not present

ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED is a Win32 network result indicating that the operation referred to a connection that is not currently established. Diagnose the connection identity used by the failing API rather than treating the code as a general network outage.

WNetGetUser boundary

For WNetGetUser, the code means that lpName does not identify a redirected local device or a connected remote network name. A mapped drive that was removed, a stale remembered name, or a remote name with no active connection can therefore produce this result even when the network itself is available.

WNetGetUser also does not resolve DFS shares in the same way as ordinary redirected connections. A local device redirected to a DFS share, or a remote resource representing a DFS share, can return ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED; that case should not be misdiagnosed as proof that the DFS target is offline.

What to verify

• Record the exact API, lpName or device name, user/logon session, and whether the caller expects a redirected drive or an unredirected remote connection.
• Enumerate the caller's current network connections in the same security context and confirm that the supplied name matches an active connection.
• If the name refers to DFS, test the DFS path separately and keep the WNetGetUser limitation distinct from actual reachability or authentication failures.

Recovery

Use the active connection name expected by the API or establish the required connection through the supported network-provider workflow, then repeat the original call once. Do not repeatedly reconnect every mapped resource or reset the network stack unless independent evidence shows a broader connectivity problem.

References

• Microsoft: WNetGetUserW function
• Microsoft: System Error Codes (1700–3999)