Cannot access Network Shared Drives over Corporate Network on Wireless

hi guys,

so I have this weird problem that is driving me nuts since some weeks... here's the thing

at work we have a corporate set up with Win 7 Professional, everything is setup on a "domain".

we all have Dell computers and we can connect either via cable or via wireless, pretty standard these days.

anyway, if I connect via cable and login everything works perfectly, I can see the local network shares and no problems at all.

Problems start to arise on wireless! Here's the crazy scenario:

- if I start PC on cable, with wifi turned off via hardware switch then say I undock the PC for going to a meeting room AND I turn on the wifi, everything works fine, I can see the network drives, all good (it crunches for a few moments when I load explorer the first time and then he "finds" the network drives)

- if I decide to go back to my station, turn off wifi, re-dock the PC, back to cable, everything works fine.

BUT

- if say I am on cable, undock the pc, put on the wifi and THEN I restart the PC, when the computer boots win 7 (it takes some time at boot) then I cannot access the network drives anymore! they have the red X and it says "connection cannot be restored" or something like that. internet browsing always works fine. and I DONT do any login on wireless, I think because it's on a "domain" setup.

that is tested 50 times in a row! basically if I don't give him the cable at boot, I cannot see the network drives. and also, when it cannot detect correctly the network drives, if I restart the laptop it literally gets stuck and I have to force a reset. on cable it restarts in like 10 seconds.

I also noticed that when I am on cable, if I go to "network" then I see some of my colleague's computers there, BUT if I am on wifi (when I cannot access the network drives), then I see just myself. this would make sense in a way....

things I already tried that didn't change a thing

- enable files and printer sharing, check
- check client for Microsoft networks
- TCP / IP > advanced > NetBIOS "enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP" from default that was before
- flush DNS
- restart winsocks with the net something command (sorry cant remember the syntax)

nothing seems to make a difference. to complicate things, some of my colleagues, with older dell computers don't have any issue at all in fact they are always on wifi.

for me it's a personal choice, I like to be on cable when at the desk (faster connection overall) and when I go to meeting rooms I use the wireless obviously but it's very annoying that I have to remember "not to restart" if I am in meeting room, otherwise I cannot see the network drives where we have work stuff!

sorry for the rant, help highly appreciated!

thanks
Gabrio

What is the make/model of Wireless Access Point(s)?

UsernameIssues said:

What is the make/model of Wireless Access Point(s)?

Click to expand...

hello

I will check when I go to work in a bit, I believe it's everything Dell, will ask our IT admin. My laptop with problems is a Latitude E 6330.

Best,
Gab

The only thing that I can think to do is to scan thru the manual for the Wireless Access Points and see if some setting looks like it could be blocking things. I don't know too much about this kind of stuff, but knowing the make/model of the WAPs might help other members to help you

hello

i am now at work and these are the details, actually

Wireless Make : CISCO
Authentication : EAP / WPA2 Enterprise

and for the note, if i disconnect from the network (deleting the profile) and reconnect, it does NOT ask me the password, i think because it's on a domain setup type.

any clues?

thanks
Gbrio

Do you happen to know the model number so that we can look for the manual?

Try to "ping" the server that hosts the network share. for example if share is \\someserver\sharename
Try in command prompt


Do it when everything is fine and when you have the problems described. Post results

It should respond with 4 sent, 4 received, 0 errors.

ok i talked with the IT guy

"we have a setup with a Juniper Firewall and then it relies on CISCO enterprise wireless routers"

this is the router, CISCO series AP1250, i cannot tell the exact model since it's hooked up at like 4 meters and wall mounted, it's definitely this one Cisco Aironet 1250 Series Access Point Hardware View - Cisco Systems

thanks
Gabrio

Kaktussoft said:

Try to "ping" the server that hosts the network share. for example if share is \\someserver\sharename
Try

Code:

ping someserver

Do it when everything is fine and when you have the problems described. Post results

It should respond with 4 sent, 4 received, 0 errors.

Click to expand...

ok we did some further testing and interesting things happening:

- we have a "preset" network share in the laptops, those give the PROBLEMS, say letters S or M

BUT

- the IT guy gave me the path to the server direct like \\server ..... and guess what, that works when i am on wifi and i can access the shared folders properly.

it seems that the "pre-set" network drives are linked to a domain (our company's) that then has a path to the correct shared drives...with DFSROOT

so this is a workaround, i will delete the other network shares, change the shortcuts and voila'!

as for the ping, getting back soon.

a "preset" network share in the laptops=>what do you mean by saying "preset"? You mean by say that : "they have a drive letter assigned"?

In command prompt do:
Post output when working and when not working. So 2 results (if they are exactly the same, only 1 results is enoogh)

gabriolinari said:

Kaktussoft said:

Try to "ping" the server that hosts the network share. for example if share is \\someserver\sharename
Try

Code:

ping someserver

Do it when everything is fine and when you have the problems described. Post results

It should respond with 4 sent, 4 received, 0 errors.

Click to expand...

ok we did some further testing and interesting things happening:

- we have a "preset" network share in the laptops, those give the PROBLEMS, say letters S or M

BUT

- the IT guy gave me the path to the server direct like \\server ..... and guess what, that works when i am on wifi and i can access the shared folders properly.

it seems that the "pre-set" network drives are linked to a domain (our company's) that then has a path to the correct shared drives...with DFSROOT

so this is a workaround, i will delete the other network shares, change the shortcuts and voila'!

as for the ping, getting back soon.

Click to expand...

Are S: and M: not working? Are the shortcuts to S: and M: not working?

"net use" actually says the drive mapping. Kind of shortcut to the share. What you did actually changes nothing!

unless "net use" redirects M and S to another share as you did create to fix it

As I understand it...
...the OP had the letters M and S mapped using DFSROOT share target
\\domain.com\sharename

The IT staff went around the DFS server and supplied the OP with
\\servername\sharename
to be used as the target.

Look at this What is DFS (Distributed File System)
Especially the picture with "before DFS consolidation" and "after DFS consolidation".
It looks like you did access the shares the "after DFS consolidation" way. Now you are using the "before DFS consolidation" way.

"after DFS consolidation" way did work when:
-logon to domain using wired connection
-detach network cable and enable wireless

Then it works correct? If so... system (routing/firewalls etc) can find and access DFS server without problems.
please confirm

What is DFS (Distributed File System)

I cannot find a link to the paper that I was looking for - but it deals with the way users authenticate to Cisco APs, then the AP passes the authentication on to the AD. We had problems with this many years ago and we are still using Cisco's work around for the issue.

For what it is worth, we also have had lots of problems with DFS shares.
IT did the same work around. i.e. bypass the DFS server.

UsernameIssues said:

As I understand it...
...the OP had the letters M and S mapped using DFSROOT share target
\\domain.com\sharename

The IT staff went around the DFS server and supplied the OP with
\\servername\sharename
to be used as the target.

Click to expand...

wow so it's a "comon" problem.

YESSS!!!!

so what i did now is the following:

since at every reboot S and M are recreated automatically, i opened the registry, found the Network shares and i edited the \\domain.com\sharename with \\servername\sharename and works PERFECT!!!

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network

I know is nasty but it works fine

Now i am stuck with my "homefolder" basically is another network drive, "H" that is created at every restart which i cannot find under the above key, and again, gives me trouble, it is not synchronized, but then again, if i use \\servername\HomeFolders\gabrio i can access it just fine.

actually if there's a way to prevent this to be recreated every time at restart, that would work.

I can create a new network mapping with \\servername\HomeFolders\gabrio but then at every restart there's two, one working and one not.

thanks guys and sorry if complicated to explain!

Gabrio

Kaktussoft said:

Look at this What is DFS (Distributed File System)
Especially the picture with "before DFS consolidation" and "after DFS consolidation".
It looks like you did access the shares the "after DFS consolidation" way. Now you are using the "before DFS consolidation" way.

"after DFS consolidation" way did work when:
-logon to domain using wired connection
-detach network cable and enable wireless

Then it works correct? If so... system (routing/firewalls etc) can find and access DFS server without problems.
please confirm

What is DFS (Distributed File System)

Click to expand...

yes, the above is correct.

"after DFS consolidation" way did work when:
-logon to domain using wired connection
-detach network cable and enable wireless

but check the post i just written with the workaround, UsernameIssues spotted the issue 100%

actually, right now for example, im on wifi, S and M fixed (see above)... but cannot access H (homefolder):

H is mapped at \\domain.com\dfsroot\HomeFolders\gabrio > NOT working

but if i open \\servername\HomeFolders\gabrio works perfect

Where is this in the registry? i tried to lookup for the 1st key and edit but it doesn't work as i did with S and M.

Gabrio

\\domain.com\sharename with \\servername\sharename and works PERFECT!!!
=> what happens if you open \\domain.com in windows file explorer?

\\servername\HomeFolders\gabrio (drive H) will be created automatically on logon (through group policy).
Can you do:
ping domain.com

That works fine?

Kaktussoft said:

\\domain.com\sharename with \\servername\sharename and works PERFECT!!!
=> what happens if you open \\domain.com in windows file explorer?

\\servername\HomeFolders\gabrio (drive H) will be created automatically on logon (through group policy).
Can you do:
ping domain.com

That works fine?

Click to expand...

good point

\\domain.com > works fine BUT when i enter the dfsroot folder like that, i can see there are X'es on all my files, and they are not synchronized.

while instead if i access \\servername\HomeFolders\gabrio they are syncronized and look "normal".

PING works too!

C:\Users\gabrio>ping domain.com

Pinging domain.com [83.140.43.190] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 83.140.43.190: bytes=32 time=135ms TTL=126
Reply from 83.140.43.190: bytes=32 time=83ms TTL=126
Reply from 83.140.43.190: bytes=32 time=106ms TTL=126
Reply from 83.140.43.190: bytes=32 time=71ms TTL=126

Ping statistics for 83.140.43.190:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 71ms, Maximum = 135ms, Average = 98ms

sorry i need to amend what i said earlier, the H drive behaves differently than the S and M did, those i couldnt really access, the H here instead (the problematic home folder), opens but files are NOT synchronized.