Solved Unable to access a Windows share (able to ping)

[eli2k]

Hi everyone, I am having weird network issues that I cannot figure out. I have a Windows 11 machine that is hosting a shared folder, and requires username/password to access. From Windows 10 machines, I can access it. From a Windows 7 machine, I used to be able to access it fine, but after a router reboot, I cannot access it. There was one time I was able to access it only if IPv6 was enabled (and only via WIN11-NUC and not IP address), but since I disabled it on the router, it stopped working. I ran `net stop workstation` on both machines with no resolution (found the idea here: Mapping network drive System error 64). Also, from the Windows 11 machine, I can access the Windows 7 share.

PS C:\Users\?> tracert 10.0.0.117 Tracing route to WIN11-NUC.lan [10.0.0.117] over a maximum of 30 hops: 1 <1 ms <1 ms 1 ms WIN11-NUC.lan [10.0.0.117] Trace complete. PS C:\Users\?> nslookup 10.0.0.117 Server: OpenWrt.lan Address: 10.0.0.1 Name: WIN11-NUC.lan Address: 10.0.0.117 PS C:\Users\?> nslookup win11-nuc Server: OpenWrt.lan Address: 10.0.0.1 Name: win11-nuc Address: 10.0.0.117 PS C:\Users\?> net use \\10.0.0.117 System error 64 has occurred. The specified network name is no longer available.

I also have issues from a Linux machine. I can ping it fine. I used to be able to mount it just fine, but now it returns this error. I am able to mount a shared folder from another Windows machine.

?@ubuntu-media:/mnt/share-nfs$ sudo mount -t cifs -o ro,username=?,password=? //10.0.0.117/share-nfs /mnt/share-nfs [sudo] password for ?: mount error: Server abruptly closed the connection. This can happen if the server does not support the SMB version you are trying to use. The default SMB version recently changed from SMB1 to SMB2.1 and above. Try mounting with vers=1.0. mount error(112): Host is down Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs) and kernel log messages (dmesg) ?@ubuntu-media:/mnt/share-nfs$ sudo mount -t cifs -o ro,username=?,password=? //win11-nuc/share-nfs /mnt/share-nfs mount error: Server abruptly closed the connection. This can happen if the server does not support the SMB version you are trying to use. The default SMB version recently changed from SMB1 to SMB2.1 and above. Try mounting with vers=1.0. mount error(112): Host is down Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs) and kernel log messages (dmesg)
Do you have any ideas what is going on? I don't believe nor recall that I did any network reconfiguration that would have caused it. Maybe I should get rid of Windows 11 and replace it with Windows 10 because Windows 11 feels really slow. Thank you.

 

[MisterEd]

I assume you are trying to access your computer using File Explorer > Network. Since that is problematic with Windows 10 and 11 I don't depend on that. I created a folder on one computer's desktop called My Network. In that folder I placed shortcuts to each computer on my network. A computer's shortcut is \\ + ComputerName. For example, the shortcut to computer DarkMatter is \\Darkmatter. When done I copied that folder to the desktops of all my computers.

Here is what the folder My Network looks like on my Windows 11 laptop. Note the computers are a mix of Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 10 and Windows 11.

 

[eli2k]

I assume you are trying to access your computer using File Explorer > Network. Since that is problematic with Windows 10 and 11 I don't depend on that. I created a folder on one computer's desktop called My Network. In that folder I placed shortcuts to each computer on my network. A computer's shortcut is \\ + ComputerName. For example, the shortcut to computer DarkMatter is \\Darkmatter. When done I copied that folder to the desktops of all my computers.

Thanks. I still have the problem when I try to create a shortcut, I still can't point it to `\\win11-nuc` or `\\10.0.0.117` because it will not connect.

Good news update -- I decided to do a `Network reset` from the Control Panel and it works again

 

[MisterEd]

Thanks. I still have the problem when I try to create a shortcut, I still can't point it to `\\win11-nuc` or `\\10.0.0.117` because it will not connect.

Can you still ping each computer from the other one? If not then there is a problem with your network.

As long as both computers are turned on and awake the shortcuts always work for me.

I assume you made shortcuts like this



I just powered up several of my computers. Including the following:

• DarkMatter - Windows 10 Pro
• Lightning - Windows 10 Pro
• Palomino - Windows XP Pro
• Phoenix-7 - Windows 7 Pro
• Starship - Windows 11 Pro
• Thoroughbred - Windows XP Pro

Here is a screenshot I made on my Windows 7 computer Phoenix-7. Note that in Network I can only see 2 computers. However, if I click on the shortcut of any of the computers turned on in the list above I can access their shares.

 

[eli2k]

I am able to ping all the computers.

I think it has something to do with the Windows 11 share being served over hostname and IPv6 instead of IPv4.

On the Linux machine I had issues where I can only mount via hostname (eg \\win11-nuc), and a new issue occurred where the share would stop working after a bit. I was able to mount it via IPv6 address (eg \\fd8c:e93f:4be4::117\my-share) and that seems to be working for now.

Not sure how to explain that at this point. Could be Windows 11 problem, or network problem with my router. But I am not sure how to troubleshoot. I think I will leave it as it since it is all working for now. Thank you for helping.

 

[eli2k]

Guys, I finally fixed this issue today with ChatGPT Trouble was on the WIN11 machine.
Two things listening on port 445 (on WIN11 machine):

PS C:\Windows\system32> netstat -ano | findstr ":445"
  TCP    0.0.0.0:445            0.0.0.0:0            LISTENING       4
  TCP    0.0.0.0:445            0.0.0.0:0            LISTENING       3244
  TCP    [::]:445               [::]:0               LISTENING       4

Turns out it is something called IP Helper using the port:

PS C:\Windows\system32> tasklist /fi "PID eq 3244"
Image Name                     PID Session Name        Session#    Mem Usage
========================= ======== ================ =========== ============
svchost.exe                   3244 Services                   0      7,120 K

PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-CimInstance Win32_Service | Where-Object {$_.ProcessId -eq 3244} | Select Name,DisplayName,State,StartMode,PathName
Name        : iphlpsvc
DisplayName : IP Helper
State       : Running
StartMode   : Auto
PathName    : C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe -k NetSvcs -p

I had a bunch of portproxy rules:

PS C:\Windows\system32> netsh interface portproxy show all
Listen on ipv4:             Connect to ipv4:Address         Port        Address         Port
--------------- ----------  --------------- ----------
  //////////
0.0.0.0         445         172.26.109.163  445

Removed it with

netsh interface portproxy delete v4tov4 listenaddress=0.0.0.0 listenport=445

I am able to access the windows share using `\\IP.ADD.RES.S` now!

I ran WSL in the past, and had a script that forwarded many ports to WSL instance to do stuff, but I no longer use WSL on this machine, and did not realize that :shock: