Question

Why does net use \\host fail (System error 53, network path not found, error) but net use \\IP-ADDRESS work?

Asked by: steranka

I'm curious why I sometimes find that I can access a remote share only with the IP address.
Does anyone know why?

What follows is a description of the events.
Step 1: Try to "login" to a remote computer.
    net use \\SOMEHOST\IPC$ /user:DOMAIN\USER
Observe the error
    System error 53 has occurred.
    The network path was not found.

Step 2: Try to "login" to the remote computer using the IP address
   First I ping SOMEHOST, to get it's IP address, then I run the command:
   net use \\IPADDRESS\IPC$ /user:DOMAIN\USER

I'm prompted to enter the password, and then I'm logged in.  After this I
can map remote drives as I would expect to be able to do so.

So... What is the configuration that prevents the hostname from being used?
But allows the IP address to be used?
How can I dis-allow both?
How can I allow both?  NOTE: I guess I know how to do this, it happens by default.

NOTE: I'm looking for what security policys are set to allow/disallow this behavior
and how security policies can be set (what tool is used).
I'd also like to confirm that Win2000 Active Directory Security Policy are downloaded
to domain clients (Win2000 pro clients that are in the domain).

Also, Is it possible to configure this on a host by host basis?

Thanks

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Asked On
2005-01-12 at 07:34:29ID21271476
Tags

error

,

53

,

net

,

use

,

system

Topic

Windows Network Security

Participating Experts
3
Points
250
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: richrumblePosted on 2005-01-12 at 08:07:04ID: 13025124

Typically it's a wins/dns issue
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/137565/EN-US/
http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBH/TIP3500/rh3533.htm
And if this is happening on a server that is using 2 or more nics for load balancing, then you'll need to try to map the the VIP not the ip of a nic (you'll need to DNS the vip also)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;192466
-rich

 

by: richrumblePosted on 2005-01-12 at 08:09:25ID: 13025149

This link is in the last article link above: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/281308
-rich

 

by: sterankaPosted on 2005-01-12 at 19:29:12ID: 13031036

Rich,
Thanks a bunch.  I was surprised to find that my DNS server was mis-configured and reporting the wrong IP address for the host that I could not login to (aka map to).  Once I fixed the DNS entry the problem went away.  I was able to "net use HOSTNAME" and "net use IPADDRESS" (both worked).  

Also the link on connecting to an alias (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/281308) was something I've been looking for for years.  Again, thanks a bunch.  I'm trying that out right now (connecting to an alias).  It's something I've been able to do for years with UNIX but wasn't able to do this in windows.

 

by: richrumblePosted on 2005-01-13 at 05:24:31ID: 13033690

Glad to be of service.
-rich

 

by: byrnnlsnPosted on 2008-06-10 at 18:11:07ID: 21756157

your prob is that your comp is not resolving the DNS.  The easiest way around this is to use the ip address rather than the registered domain name.

 

by: SpareCanoe91Posted on 2009-01-14 at 10:42:17ID: 23375905

I experienced this very same problem and was banging my head against the wall for three days.  I could not map a drive to any of the networked computers at my home network.  I would get "System error 53" and "Network path not found".

I finally found what was wrong.  Somehow I had disabled the lanmanworkstation dll using the sysinternal autoruns utility.  I had unchecked the autorun entry the Network Providers tab which disabled a registry entry under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order.  By re-checking the box next to LanmanWorkstation in Autoruns-->Network Provider, a registry key entry was returned.  The entry under 'ProviderOrder' was missing the value LanmanWorkstation.

Just to add clarity, although repeating what I just wrote, here's how how my registry reads:

Registry location: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order

Name | Type | Data
ProviderOrder | REG_SZ | RDPNP,WebClient,PGPpwflt,LanmanWorkstation

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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