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I am trying to fix a Windows 7 Pro SP1 (32 bits) computer. I have a weird problem. It was working fine until two days ago (didn't do anything weird in that day), and suddenly windows network (accessing to Windows Shares, sharing my printer) stopped working.

TCP/IP networks works without issues, since I can IM, use the WebBrowser, check my email, you name it.

Any ideas on how could I attempt to fix this?

Update: More information on the issue and answers to some of the questions on comments.

  1. I immediately get an error stating that Windows Can't connect to the share.
  2. I tried everything: mapping the network share to a letter, accessing the share with its IP address \\192.168.16.1', with its name\NAME'.
  3. I don't have a managed Windows domain. It's just a plain share.
  4. My computer can't access any other share on the network.
  5. Other computers can access other shares on the network. My computer is the only one with the problem.

One thing I also noticed is that I can't get to enable windows sharing on it. It used to be enabled, but it's no longer enabled. If I try to enable it, my command apparently works but it's completely ignored. When I access the Window to change the information again it shows the old configuration.

I did run a full antivirus scan before posting this question. I use Microsoft Security Essentials.

Update 02:

This is what a tracert looks like to the IP and to the name:

Microsoft Windows [Versión 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. Reservados todos los derechos.

C:\Users\Majo>tracert 192.168.16.5

Traza a 192.168.16.5 sobre caminos de 30 saltos como máximo.

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.16.5

Traza completa.

C:\Users\Majo>tracert dharma

Traza a la dirección dharma.roshka.com.py [192.168.16.5]
sobre un máximo de 30 saltos:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.16.5

Traza completa.

C:\Users\Majo>

As you can see, my windows is in spanish. I am in south america. Here's my ipconfig.

C:\Users\Majo>ipconfig

Configuración IP de Windows


Adaptador de Ethernet Conexión de área local:

   Sufijo DNS específico para la conexión. . : roshka.com.py
   Vínculo: dirección IPv6 local. . . : fe80::d897:ae89:4133:5157%10
   Dirección IPv4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.16.56
   Máscara de subred . . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Puerta de enlace predeterminada . . . . . : 192.168.16.254

Adaptador de Ethernet VMware Network Adapter VMnet1:

   Sufijo DNS específico para la conexión. . :
   Vínculo: dirección IPv6 local. . . : fe80::cc23:f4b9:3b46:c18b%12
   Dirección IPv4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.79.1
   Máscara de subred . . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Puerta de enlace predeterminada . . . . . :

Adaptador de Ethernet VMware Network Adapter VMnet8:

   Sufijo DNS específico para la conexión. . :
   Vínculo: dirección IPv6 local. . . : fe80::618b:e12d:ed4f:b7d2%13
   Dirección IPv4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.205.1
   Máscara de subred . . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Puerta de enlace predeterminada . . . . . :

Adaptador de Ethernet VirtualBox Host-Only Network:

   Sufijo DNS específico para la conexión. . :
   Vínculo: dirección IPv6 local. . . : fe80::30:e2bd:e34b:f5ed%16
   Dirección IPv4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.1
   Máscara de subred . . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Puerta de enlace predeterminada . . . . . :

Adaptador de túnel isatap.{881E7939-BDC1-4062-BECA-92879A30823B}:

   Estado de los medios. . . . . . . . . . . : medios desconectados
   Sufijo DNS específico para la conexión. . :

Adaptador de túnel Conexión de área local* 9:

   Estado de los medios. . . . . . . . . . . : medios desconectados
   Sufijo DNS específico para la conexión. . :

Adaptador de túnel isatap.roshka.com.py:

   Estado de los medios. . . . . . . . . . . : medios desconectados
   Sufijo DNS específico para la conexión. . :

Adaptador de túnel isatap.{D446DFD2-FEE0-4FB4-82A3-02AEB91E3C21}:

   Estado de los medios. . . . . . . . . . . : medios desconectados
   Sufijo DNS específico para la conexión. . :

Adaptador de túnel isatap.{9546B967-557F-4597-988D-1CBB4EFAD286}:

   Estado de los medios. . . . . . . . . . . : medios desconectados
   Sufijo DNS específico para la conexión. . :

C:\Users\Majo>

The user is indeed Administrator of the computer. Will try running explorer on elevated mode.

Update 03: just tried running explorer with elevated permission (great link! didn't know I could do that) and unfortunately behavior remains the same.

Thanks for all the help!

6
  • Did you ran the troubleshooting wizards? Apr 13, 2012 at 16:31
  • @TomWijsman: yes, I did. No luck. Apr 13, 2012 at 16:39
  • 1
    You still haven't defined exactly what is wrong. We need to do that before we can tell you how to fix it. What error messages do you get when you try to connect? How do you try to connect? Mapped drive? UNC path? connecting by IP? connecting by hostname? connecting by fully qualified domain name? Can another user access the share? Can another computer access the share? Can your user or computer access any other shares on other machines?
    – MaQleod
    Apr 13, 2012 at 17:24
  • 1
    It's interesting that three days ago was Microsoft's monthly "patch Tuesday". Apr 13, 2012 at 17:29
  • 1
    What does a traceroute to 192.168.16.1 look like? What does a traceroute to the computer name look like? Can you post an ipconfig readout? Is the user that you are logging in as an administrator on that computer? If you launch explorer with elevated permissions, does the behavior change? (see here for how to do that: superuser.com/questions/58933/…)
    – MaQleod
    Apr 13, 2012 at 19:43

4 Answers 4

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Check files and printer sharing service. It should be allowed in the windows firewall. Also be sure that you have full access to the home/office network.

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  • check firewall/filtering/antivirus
  • try accessing it via IP rather then hostname
  • try accessing it through Linux/MAC (just to test it)
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Another thing to try is an ipconfig /flushdns

Are you in a domain (corporate) environment? It's possible the administrators may have changed your permissions to access certain things.

If you are not in a domain environment (i.e. workgroup), then for sharing to work properly:

  • the two systems must be able to send and receive traffic to each other. For Netbios names to work, the two systems must be able to send and receive broadcast traffic to each other (i.e. no router in between). For DNS names to work, the two systems must have a name registered in a DNS server reachable by both systems which is normally done only in a domain (corporate) environment. Otherwise the IP must be used.

  • you must have a valid account on that remote system (if it's the same exact username and password on your own system, you will not be prompted for a username and password when you connect to the share)

  • the file, folder, etc. on the remote system must have permissions set to allow your account to access it, BOTH for "share" permissions and the permissions in the "Security" tab (the "share" permissions is a holdover from Windows 9x days whose filesystem did not support ACLs or ownership).

Windows also seems to have issues with caching credentials sometimes when you don't want it to, particularly in Windows XP and below. In severe cases I've found recreating your profile (deleting user account and recreating it, backing up/restoring data before and after) is needed, although there could be better ways to resolve that.

You could also try reinstalling the "Client for Microsoft Networks" service (go to ncpa.cpl -> any network adapter -> properties -> then uninstall, make sure you are local administrator before doing that, and then reboot, then reinstall it by going to ncpa.cpl -> any network adapter -> properties -> install -> select Client -> Client for Microsoft Networks, and reboot again)

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I found that the problem is the recent Microsoft patch KB 3023607.

And the detailed information is available at this blog.

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