Domain: Windows 7 share, access denied from XP machine

Question

Have a Windows 7 share. There is a folder being shared out from that client. After a while, you can no longer access the computer from an XP client. Just says, "\client is not accessible". After rebooting the 7 box, it will work for a bit and then do the same thing.

Both clients are on a domain.

Any idea as to why this happens? The share works for a bit and then stops working on XP. Other 7 boxes can access the share still.

Thanks

Answer 1

A web search revealed this problem to be pretty old with dozens of references to the apparent solution. It seems that Alan LaMielle should get credit for posting the solution first.

The Solution

First, make the following registry changes (on the Windows 7 'server'):

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"LargeSystemCache"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\LanmanServer\Parameters]
"Size"=dword:00000003

Then, restart the server (or reboot):

net stop server
net start server

About The Solution

In some other versions of Windows, there is an option in the Network section of Control Panel for optimizing the Server for file-sharing. In Windows 7, you have to make the registry changes yourself. Although Alan LaMielle helped many Windows 7 users figure this out, it had previously been described in Microsoft's How to Optimize Windows NT Server Using the Registry:

When you configure one of the four options for the Server service, the information is saved to the following two registry keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters\size

Your choices for this registry key are 1, 2 and 3.
    1 = Minimize Memory Used
    2 = Balance
    3 = Maximize Throughput for File Sharing and Maximize
        Throughput for Network Applications

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\MemoryManagement\LargeSystemCache

Your choices for this registry key are 0 and 1.
    1 = Maximize Throughput for File Sharing
    0 = Maximize Throughput for Network Applications

Answer source (SF.SE)