Windows 7: NAS Issue

I have a Western Digital Netcenter NAS drive attached to my router via ethernet. I have two windows 7 notebooks connected to my network wirelessly. One notebook sees the NAS drive as a computer on the network and can access the files on its shared folder through the \\WD-NetCenter\Shared Files\ nomenclature. The other notebook was set up to do the same and worked fine until today when it suddenly cannot connect to the NAS in that manner. The only way I have been able to connect is through the NAS' IP address in the manner of \\192.168.1.xxx. When I try to connect to it by name, the response is that it cannot be accessed. Any ideas on what might have changed or how to remedy the problem? Thanks.

It'l probably be a DNS issue.
Have you power-cycled your router?

Hello,

I would give the NAS a little break too, turn it off completely for a couple of minutes, restart the computer as well.
Try connecting when both are up and running.

thanks, I tried power-cycling both the router and the NAS but the result is the same. My computer sees the WD-Netcenter as a computer on the network, accessible by \\WD-Netcenter\Shared Files\ but my girlfriend's computer doesn't automatically recognize it and can only connect using \\192.168.1.xxx. When trying to connect using the name, a dialog box appears saying "Windows cannot access \\WD-Netcenter\Shared Files." I also have a media center device, WDTV Live Hub, connected to my network wirelessly. Again, my computer automatically recognizes it as a computer on the network. My girlfriend's computer does see this device but it views it as a media device and wants to open it with Windows Media Player instead of Windows Explorer. She can view it as a drive by \\192.168.1.xxx just like the NAS.

Are both computers in the same workgroup?

I had the same type of issue when setting up my home network. The problem I had was the sharing permissions were not set right for the second computer. On your NAS system did you set permissions for both of your laptops? I can be a little tricky to setup. Even is you are all on the same homegroup, you have to set the permissions for all before all pcs can access the files. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Both computers, the NAS too, are in the same workgroup. Neither of our two notebooks are using the Windows 7 functionality Homegroup because, until recently, my computer was the only one running Windows 7. The NAS has a public shared folder "Shared Files." It doesn't have any specific security settings other than username and password. It is running the software that was native to it when I bought it (back when a 160 GB drive was state-of-the-art!).

seems to be DNS related, try registerning dns on the trouble laptop.

run / cmd / type: ipconfig /registerdns

Or just map a network drive to the ip address?

As Brady suggested, I tried ipconfig /registerdns and there was no change. Also, as suggested, I did map a drive to the ip address and I think that will work fine. I already had her change her links and iTunes music folder to refer to the ip address. So this might be solved from a practical standpoint. But still... what's up with this? It just isn't right...

It is still a DNS issue.
Try what Brady suggests.
Otherwise, you'll need to set the DNS server on your local network card settings.

(I'l get screenshots up soon)

To do this, open your network connections.

rightclick the network adapter and select properties.

Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), click properties


On the properties page, select 'Use the following DNS server addresses'

Change the preferred DNS server to the IPv4 of your ROUTER
Change the alternate DNS server to the IPv4 of your ISP

(Dont use these IP addresses. I made them up as an example)

Click ok on all boxes.

Go back to command prompt, and try Brady's suggestion again