Windows 7 seeing the Workgroup
Here is my situation. We have a Workgroup on our network. I'm easily able to join and access shared resources on this Workgroup from an XP machine but with a Windows 7 machine, I'm able to join the Workgroup but once I've joined I can not access any of the shares or, to be more specific, I can intermittently access the shares. Randomly, the workgroup PC's will show up under Network and I'll be able to open a share but after a little while I will receive the Network Error,
"Windows cannot access \\PCNAME
Check the spelling of the name. Otherwise, there might be a problem with your network. To try to identify and resolve network problems, click Diagnose."
When I click diagnose, the problem it finds is:
"The remote device or resource wont accept the connection"
I can ping the PC's via there IP address's or the PC names, however I cant connect via Remote Desktop using either the IP or PC name.
I have changed the advance sharing setting, I have disabled TCP/IPv6, I have enabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP, I have completely turned off Windows firewall. I don't know what else to do. Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance for your time and expertise.
"Windows cannot access \\PCNAME
Check the spelling of the name. Otherwise, there might be a problem with your network. To try to identify and resolve network problems, click Diagnose."
When I click diagnose, the problem it finds is:
"The remote device or resource wont accept the connection"
I can ping the PC's via there IP address's or the PC names, however I cant connect via Remote Desktop using either the IP or PC name.
I have changed the advance sharing setting, I have disabled TCP/IPv6, I have enabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP, I have completely turned off Windows firewall. I don't know what else to do. Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance for your time and expertise.
ASKER
I have already changed all of the Advance Sharing Setting's to the ones shown in that tutorial and the username/password is already the same on all the PC's.
You may be having an issue with the master browser. What errors are popping up in your logs?
Try updating the nic driver. Was the Windows 7 machine installed as an upgrade?
Try updating the nic driver. Was the Windows 7 machine installed as an upgrade?
ASKER
There are no relevant errors that I can see in the event viewer.
The NIC drivers installed are the latest drivers. These are brand new PC's with Windows 7 Pro preinstalled.
The NIC drivers installed are the latest drivers. These are brand new PC's with Windows 7 Pro preinstalled.
Check services.msc to see if TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Services is running and set to automatic.
<:>Try nbtstat -RR from command prompt.
<::>Do you have any antivirus software installed?
<::>You could also try renaming the workgroup on all PC's, starting with the Windows 7 machines, and perhaps get a cleaner slate. What type of router/switch are you using?
<:>Try nbtstat -RR from command prompt.
<::>Do you have any antivirus software installed?
<::>You could also try renaming the workgroup on all PC's, starting with the Windows 7 machines, and perhaps get a cleaner slate. What type of router/switch are you using?
ASKER
The TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service is set to automatic and it is started.
I ran nbtstat - RR. It said that it was successful. I'm still unable to retain a connection to the Workgroup.
There is no antivirus software installed.
The existing Workgroup consists of some 30 PC's. I cant upend all of that. The problem is Windows 7 based. I've tried with 3 of the new PC's we just got in and each has the same problem. I can connect to PC's in the Workgroup and then a minute later I cant, five minutes later I can, a minute later I cant again.
Our router is a Cisco ASA 5520, the switches are Dell Powerconnects.
I ran nbtstat - RR. It said that it was successful. I'm still unable to retain a connection to the Workgroup.
There is no antivirus software installed.
The existing Workgroup consists of some 30 PC's. I cant upend all of that. The problem is Windows 7 based. I've tried with 3 of the new PC's we just got in and each has the same problem. I can connect to PC's in the Workgroup and then a minute later I cant, five minutes later I can, a minute later I cant again.
Our router is a Cisco ASA 5520, the switches are Dell Powerconnects.
Are all XP machines running SP3?
With 30 pc's you should really start moving towards a domain setup...you may be exceeding the maximum number of concurrent connections (10 for XP, 20 for 7). What version of 7 are you using? Are they setup as being part of a "work" network?
I understand why you don't want to go around changing all PC's to be a part of a new workgroup; however this may be your fix. Before you do so, try a few different scenarios for testing:
With 30 pc's you should really start moving towards a domain setup...you may be exceeding the maximum number of concurrent connections (10 for XP, 20 for 7). What version of 7 are you using? Are they setup as being part of a "work" network?
I understand why you don't want to go around changing all PC's to be a part of a new workgroup; however this may be your fix. Before you do so, try a few different scenarios for testing:
- Change your Windows 7 pc's to another workgroup name
- Change one of the XP pc's to the new group, test your sharing. This will kill two birds with one stone (both concurrent connections and renaming to the Windows 7 homegroup)
- After you've done this, try renaming back to the original homegroup (if possible with all other XP PC's down) and test.
- Shutdown a bunch of the PCs and only have a few up and running, test (if possible).
- Setup a domain controller ;)
It sounds ridiculous, but a user indicated that they had success by adding a computer description. I didn't even want to mention it, but, hey, worth a quick try.
ASKER
All XP machines are running SP3.
The domain setup is coming but at the moment I need to keep these PC's in workgroups.
I joined our file server to a new workgroup and then joined one of the new Windows 7 PC's to this new workgroup as well. The same thing happened. I logged on after restarting for the workgroup change and no PC's would show under Network except the PC I was on. I logged off and back on then all the WORKGROUP PC's and the new STUDENT workgroup PC's showed up under Network with the Windows 7 PC and the File Server showing up twice. I was able to connect to the File servers shares and the after a few minutes I was disconnected from the share. After a few more minutes I was able to reconnect. Same thing as before except now there are two enteries for the Windows 7 PC and the file server (see image).
Also, I added a PC description, there was no change. At this point everything is worth a try.
Network.jpg
The domain setup is coming but at the moment I need to keep these PC's in workgroups.
I joined our file server to a new workgroup and then joined one of the new Windows 7 PC's to this new workgroup as well. The same thing happened. I logged on after restarting for the workgroup change and no PC's would show under Network except the PC I was on. I logged off and back on then all the WORKGROUP PC's and the new STUDENT workgroup PC's showed up under Network with the Windows 7 PC and the File Server showing up twice. I was able to connect to the File servers shares and the after a few minutes I was disconnected from the share. After a few more minutes I was able to reconnect. Same thing as before except now there are two enteries for the Windows 7 PC and the file server (see image).
Also, I added a PC description, there was no change. At this point everything is worth a try.
Network.jpg
ASKER
The double enteries have disappered. Now when the Network is populated with PC's there are just single entries for the two machines previously mentioned.
I'm really thinking you just have too many connections to one machine...can you share between other PC's without issues? Do you have another router to use for testing?
ASKER
I cant connect to any machine when the LAN connection drops. When it comes back on I can. This concurrent connections issue would have been solved by putting them in their own workgroup though, correct?
ASKER
And in case you meant can I share between other machines besides the Windows 7 PC's I'm adding, yes, I can.
Yes, it should be solved if they're in their own, limited, workgroup (from your attached screenshot there are way too many PCs for testing purposes). When you say the LAN connection drops, is that everything? You're not disconnected from the internet, and you're still maintaining an IP address, correct? Did you update the router and switch?
And I meant can you access any other XP machines from Windows 7...I was unsure if you were strictly connecting to a file server...
ASKER
Windows 7 michines seem to show every machine on the network all together under the Network section reguardless if they are in a shared workgroup. What you see in that image is the Windows 7 PC (ECPROF-213) and the File Server (KANE) in their own test workgroup (STUDENT) all the rest of the visible PC's remained in a seperate Workgroup.
When I'm disconnected from the Workgroup I'm still able to reach the internet and I maintain the IP address.
By update the router or switch, what exactly do you mean? Update the firmware?
When I'm conectted to the Workgroup I'm able to access all the shares in the Workgroup, XP or File Server.
When I'm disconnected from the Workgroup I'm still able to reach the internet and I maintain the IP address.
By update the router or switch, what exactly do you mean? Update the firmware?
When I'm conectted to the Workgroup I'm able to access all the shares in the Workgroup, XP or File Server.
Ok that makes sense - you should be able to see all computers within the network, regardless of the workgroup.
Yes...update the firmware. There must be a reason you're dropping connections...can you shutdown a bunch of other computers from the network? Are you using passwords?
Try increasing the receive and transmit buffers on your nic to 256 and 512, respectively.
<:>After that, disable TCP/IP offloading. You can either do it from your nic configuration properties or through command line:
<:>h<:>ttp://www.windowsreference.com/windows-vista/slow-network-copy-and-connection-drops-in-windows-7/
Yes...update the firmware. There must be a reason you're dropping connections...can you shutdown a bunch of other computers from the network? Are you using passwords?
Try increasing the receive and transmit buffers on your nic to 256 and 512, respectively.
<:>After that, disable TCP/IP offloading. You can either do it from your nic configuration properties or through command line:
<:>h<:>ttp://www.windowsreference.com/windows-vista/slow-network-copy-and-connection-drops-in-windows-7/
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/share-files-and-printers-between-windows-7-and-xp/
I have also found it useful to have the same username/password combinations on the XP and Win7 machines in the workgroup.