Thanks for all you help.
this is what i have at the moment, and it works...
start IEXPLORE.EXE
NET USE H: /HOME
NET USE T: \\ourserver02\software
NET USE P: \\ourserver01\Public
NET USE Q: \\ourserver02\Audit
NET USE R: \\ourserver\it-ops
\\ourserverdc02\SYSVOL\xxxxx.ie\scripts\LSclient.exe miinvser
exit
the problem seems to be when you run
"c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe"
the bat file wont go past that part, but if you change it to
start IEXPLORE.EXE
it works fine.
not really sure why one works where the other fails, as they would appear to be doing the same thing..
but thanks again to everybody who helped, its much appreciated...
Damien
