All my GOG games except the big ones are installed on my file server using Linux and Samba, on the "T:" drive. My Windows account is set to be Administrator. I install Freespace into T:\GOG Games\Freespace and click on the "Launch game" button on the installer, and the game works. After that initial run from the game installer program, Freespace will not launch from the desktop icon/shortcut. A box pops up with the following error:

Error: Error parsing 'rank.tbl'
Error code = 5.

File:D:\PROJECTS\FREESPACE\Freespace\Scoring.cpp
Line: 362

Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
kernel32.dll 76a8336a()
ntdll.dll 77319f72()
ntdll.dll 77319f45()
------------------------------------------------------------------

On my computer, there is no D:\PROJECTS\FREESPACE path. When I copy the game directory onto D:\GOG Games, it works with no jumping through hoops. I have tried compatability mode, but Windows 7 cannot save compatability settings for network drives. Also looked at FSPort, but the documentation is a nightmare and seems focused on FS2. Any ideas as to why vanilla GOG Freespace refuses to run on my computer?

FSPort is a modification for the FS2Open engine mod to FreeSpace 2. Basically, if you own FreeSpace 2 and apply the FS2Open engine mod then you can play the first game as a custom campaign modification within the second game, taking advantage of the better graphics and functions. This is why FSPort is focused on FS2, as that is where it runs. If you don't have FS2 then you can't use FSPort.

But as for you main question, I don't know. Maybe someone else here does? What I do know is that some older GOG uninstallers accidentally clear all compatibility settings instead of just the ones for the game being uninstalled. GOG are fixing these installers over time but I don't know how far they've got or when they'll all be finished. Could it be a possibility that you uninstalled some other GOG game and that removed the compatibility settings from FS1? Or is it definitely confirmed that Windows isn't saving the compatibility settings for network drives?

OK I did some more experimenting. My son, logged into his own account, can play it just fine from the desktop icon that gets automatically copied over during the game install. On my laptop, I can play it from the shortcuts that I copied onto the network drive and also straight from the install directory. I went through the registry and deleted everything that referenced freeespace\fs.exe but still cannot play from my account on the main computer. Thanks for the response and I will keep experimenting and post back anything I find...