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For years, I've had file-sharing set up so that my laptop can access files on my desktop PC. I did that by creating matching (local) user accounts on both PCs. That worked fine for years, even when I had Windows 7 on my desktop PC, but it spontaneously stopped working a few months ago (several months after I upgraded my desktop PC to Windows 10).

I can still access the shared folders by IP address, but not by host name. In other words, \\192.168.1.9\ works, but \\DesktopName\ doesn't. Unfortunately, my router won't let me assign the desktop PC a static IP address, so I can't use that as a convenient workaround.

The only thing that fixes it – temporarily – is to use the "Network Reset" in Windows settings. However, it stops working almost immediately. After that, any attempt to access the shared folders by host name prompts me to "enter network credentials," but my credentials aren't accepted.

The problem is only with this laptop accessing this desktop PC. I can still access shared files from other computers in my household, including another Windows 10 laptop. I can also access other computers by host name from this laptop.

Other notes:

• I use the Private Internet Access VPN, but I don't think it's responsible, because I have the issue with or without it turned on.

• I prefer not to sign into my personal computer with a Microsoft account, so I haven't tried that.

• I've tried the Windows Credential Manager — both adding and removing my credentials.

• I've tried turning on Windows Services recommended on various help pages.

• I've double-checked the "advanced sharing settings" in the Network & Sharing Center.

• My TCP/IPv4 settings are configured to obtain an IP address and DNS server automatically.

I'm stumped here. I know there are similar questions already on this forum, and others... but I feel like I've tried all of that advice already. I must be missing something.

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  • @RichardTheKiwi: You have set up a bounty, but please tell us more about your setup and also whether your problem is accessing using IP, or accessing via machine name, or just simply no access however you try.
    – harrymc
    Oct 5, 2023 at 10:01
  • @DavidGrimes - Are you able to successfully ping the remote machine with the share on it my it's name from the machine with share connection issues? If not, you might need to add the c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts on the remote machine and ensure it's IPV4 address is statically assigned rather than DHCP assigned. I assume you've already tried net use /delete * and then tried remapping the drive. Windows has been hardening defaults for NTLM as I see mentioned in other answers, so if you need to use NTLM, you might investigate how to ensure it's enabled on the remote machine. Oct 7, 2023 at 13:23

7 Answers 7

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You need to turn on network discovery to access PC by netbios name. open Network and Sharing Center and select Change advanced sharing settings. Turn on network discovery and Save changes. And also try changing network location to Work or Home there in network and sharing center. Also try adding the IP address in your hosts file.

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  • the OP said he can't make sure that his devices will have the same IPs everytime.
    – Zina
    Jun 14, 2020 at 9:31
  • Thank you, but I had tried all of those suggestions already. (I alluded to some of them in my original post, although I should have been specific about turning Network Discovery on and setting my network to private.) The good news is that I managed to fix the issue. I posted an answer to myself to explain. Jun 14, 2020 at 15:35
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I agree with Wasif Hasan. One other thing I recommend:

On the laptop, go to Control Panel -> Credentials (try the search bar if you don't see it from this point). Look for old stored credentials stored in the laptop to connect to the desktop, and delete all entries you see for it. I've seen this happen when old stored credentials are conflicting.

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  • Thank you, but I mentioned above that I had already tried the Credential Manager. The good news is that I managed to fix the issue. I posted an answer to myself to explain. Jun 14, 2020 at 15:36
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You are all WRoNG has nothing to do with DNS; using IP address when mapping drive falls back to NTLM authentication using Name uses Kerberos !!! Stop looking at DNS Check your NTLM / Kerberos -

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  • 1
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    – Community Bot
    Sep 15, 2022 at 14:07
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I had the same issue in an environment with a Windows PC acting as SMB share server and a also running a Virtualbox VM. The case is the same as described earlier.

I managed to resolve it disabling IPv6 in the properties of the Virtualbox network adapter.

No further change done, and also VM and SMB shares still works both through IP and NetBIOS name from all client computer.

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One thing you can try, since you cannot do DHCP Reservation in your Router is to give your Desktop Windows 10 Computer a static IP address.

Use TCP/IP Properties to manually assign: IP Address Subnet Mask Gateway (Router) IP Address

Then assign static IP Address (from your Router / ISP Settings) for two Manual DNS Addresses.

Restart the Desktop PC and assure it is connecting to the Internet properly.

Now any other computer can access it by the same IP address, or (as suggested earlier), put an entry in the HOSTS file of the computer you are connecting from with the name and IP address of the main computer.

Use standard DHCP for all the other computers.

That should resolve your issues.

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  • As I said, my router doesn't seem to be able to assign static IP addresses. However, I had never tried setting a static IP from the TCP/IPv4 settings of the network adapter (because I didn't remember you could). It's possible that would have been enough, by itself, to work around the problem – unless the router step is required – but thankfully, I fixed the underlying issue instead. (See my answer for details.) It's also possible that I'm misunderstanding your answer, since I don't know quite know what you mean by terms like "DHCP Reservation" and "Manual DNS Address." Regardless, thank you. Jun 14, 2020 at 15:45
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UPDATE:

Since posting, I think I fixed it. I don't fully understand what happened, but the culprit seems to be SAS University Edition. It runs in a very complicated way (through VirtualBox), which includes installing its own network adapter, and is accessed through the browser at localhost:10080/SASInformationCenter/index.html

In the TCP/IPv4 settings of the SAS network adapter, I realized it was set to a static IP address (unlike my "real" network adapter). I finally noticed that the SAS network adapter's IP address was the one I saw when I tried to ping the desktop from the laptop. My guess is that it somehow "took over" the desktop's hostname, so that my attempts to connect to the desktop by hostname were being redirected to that special network adapter for SAS.

SAS University Edition was installed on both computers. The fix (knock on wood; it's been working since last night) was to go into the SAS network adapter settings on the laptop and change the static IP to make it different from that of the SAS network adapter on the desktop PC. I guess that resolved some kind of conflict, because now pinging the desktop produces the correct IP address, and file sharing works again.

Thank you to everyone who commented. I'm sorry that I ended up not needing your help.

P.S. – The more I think about it, the more I don't understand why this actually worked.

When the two SAS network adapters on the laptop and desktop both had IP addresses 192.168.56.1, pinging the desktop's host name from the laptop returned 192.168.56.1.

After changing the laptop's SAS network adapter to 192.168.56.2, pinging the desktop's host name from the laptop returned 192.168.1.9 (the desktop's current local IP).

That makes no sense to me. It seems like A should not affect B.

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David, I noticed a similar thing with some kind of emulated adapter I have that was installed along with Oracel VM VirtualBox. I don't even remember what I used it for or how I set it up in the past, but the adapter did have that exact same curious IP setting as yours

Network discovery is set up, netbios is set up, credentials have been deleted etc., all the suggestions have been tried. I noticed that the virtualbox fake ethernet connection had a static IP of 192.168.56.1 for IPv4 just as yours did. Unfortunately disabling it, then uninstalling it, does not seem to fix the issue. Like you, I am able to access files by IP but not hostname. Still I have not found a solution to this. I work around it by using IP addresses but as I set up more complicated streaming related things on my network the inability of PCs to connect by hostname (such as auto-configured applications that presume hostname resolves rather than the device's ip) is causing some issues. It would be nice to have a real answer to this, and your diagnosis I think is getting closer to it

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    – Community Bot
    Feb 4, 2023 at 17:12

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