I tried everything with no luck. It simply refuses to store the passwords anymore. At this point, it’d be cheaper to reformat the machine than to waste any more time on it.
I worked with _stefan ‘s post of using the net use command by turning it into a batch file.
@ECHO OFF
net use Z: \\computername\folder password /USER:DOMAIN\username /persistent:yes
Instead of putting the batch directly in the Startup folder, I placed it elsewhere and made a shortcut to it in the Startup folder. Then I set the shortcut to run minimized. This removes the annoying command window that pops up every time the machine is rebooted.
I hope this helps.