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Mark Taylor
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Can't browse its own shares?!

Hi folks,

We have a 2012 R2 server which cannot browse its own shares. This server has been running without issue for a couple of years, and this started a couple of days ago.

When it tries to access one of its shares it gives the error "Share is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The specified network name is no longer available."

Other PCs can browse the server's shares without issue, using the same domain account.

Windows firewall is off, network discovery is on, SMB v1 is on. I've tried adding a new share with Everyone permissions and I can't access that either. I'm at a loss as to what the issue could be!

Any ideas?

Thanks
Networking

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Last Comment
Tom Cieslik

8/22/2022 - Mon
Tom Cieslik

Double check if share are available using server IP like : \\192.168.1.10\Share name
If does then problem is in your DNS settings on server.
Make sure server has DNS set properly.

Try PING server itself and check if it will and try use PING -a IP address and check if ping will return Server Name.
Double check if there is no entries in host file on this serever that is interfering name resolution or IP address
hypercube

It also sounds like the username being used may not have READ (or other?) access.  
I would look at group membership vs. permissions on the  shares (both sharing and security permissions).
Mark Taylor

ASKER
Tom, I can use \\hostname on the problem server and it opens. If I use \\ipaddress I get an error (0x80004005 Unspecified Error). If I use \\hostname\share I get an error (The specified network name is no longer available). From other PCs and servers on the network I can access the problem server using any of the above without issue.

DNS looks OK to me. The server addresses are identical to other working servers. I can PING the server address both by name and IP address on the server itself, and from other PCs and servers.

I've looked at hosts and lmhosts.sam in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc, but there are no entries there.

Fred, oddly I can access this server from another PC/server with the same account. The shares are very open, for domain users, so not much restricted. I've tried a couple of different accounts, and local admin, on the problem server. All the accounts get this problem.
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James Murphy
Tom Cieslik

Try create new folder and make is share for everyone with full share rights and for test only full security rights.
Check id is working from affected server.

Please let me know.
Mark Taylor

ASKER
I've created a test share, set to share with Everyone, and security permissions to Everyone (Full Control). I can't browse it, I get the "The specified network name is no longer available." error.
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Tom Cieslik

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Mark Taylor

ASKER
Domain firewall is turned off. I've tried disabling AV, but to no avail (it uses System Center Endpoint Protection).

I've changed the registry entry, and will reboot out of hours to see if that helps. Thanks!
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Tom Cieslik

So maybe there is Symantec that blocking you.
If you can;t disable it make sure, that file and printer sharing is enabled and your internal network is in trusted subnets.
Mark Taylor

ASKER
SCEP is the Microsoft product that comes with System Centre. File and Printer sharing definitely enabled. Will let you know tomorrow re. the registry change.
Mark Taylor

ASKER
Thanks Tom, very much looks like the registry edit fixed it. Rebooted, and shares are now accessible!
Your help has saved me hundreds of hours of internet surfing.
fblack61
Mark Taylor

ASKER
Thanks Tom!
Tom Cieslik

You are very welcome :)