Cant access shared network folders.

[ZimBoy]

Hi there as the title says I cant access shared network folders.
I have 3 computers on my network, one Work Desktop one Work Laptop and a media PC for storage. I have setup a shared folder on the media PC and I have no issue connecting to it from my Work Desktop, however the laptop is not able to access it at all. I also tried sharing a folder from the Work Desktop but it cant be accessed by any of the other devices on the network. 

Here is what I have tried so far.
- Ensure the permissions are set to Everyone
- Enable SMB file sharing on all machines

- Ensure all computers are on the same network

- Ensure folder paths are correctly written
- Set network types to private

- Enable File and printer sharing + network discovery on all computers


The server is running Windows 11 and the others windows 10. 
All the computers are connected to my router through ethernet cables.

I cant understand why one folder is working sharing to one other PC and all the others do not have access?

Is there something I missed?

 

[Needfuldoer]

On the computer that can't find the server, try typing "nslookup [the name of the server]" into a command prompt. Is it able to resolve the name?

 

You can also try accessing the share by the server's IP address.

[ZimBoy]

8 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

On the computer that can't find the server, try typing "nslookup [the name of the server]" into a command prompt. Is it able to resolve the name?

 

You can also try accessing the share by the server's IP address.

Does nslookup work for local IP's? For example if my shared folder should be able to be accessed by "\\Media\Photos"

Would i try nslookup \\Media\Photos?

 

[Needfuldoer]

24 minutes ago, ZimBoy said:

Does nslookup work for local IP's?

It should.

 

25 minutes ago, ZimBoy said:

For example if my shared folder should be able to be accessed by "\\Media\Photos"

Only if your server's name is "Media".

 

24 minutes ago, ZimBoy said:

Would i try nslookup \\Media\Photos?

No. That's the SMB path.

 

Just  nslookup servername

 

[ZimBoy]

3 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

It should.

 

Only if your server's name is "Media".

 

No. That's the SMB path.

 

Just  nslookup servername

 

Ok thanks for the clarification.

I get a "*** dns.google can't find MEDIA: Non-existent domain" message back when running the command.

[Needfuldoer]

6 minutes ago, ZimBoy said:

Ok thanks for the clarification.

I get a "*** dns.google can't find MEDIA: Non-existent domain" message back when running the command.

Does that machine have your router set as its DNS server of choice, or is it set to 8.8.8.8?

 

DNS could be a red herring here, since it's all Windows networking.

 

Try connecting to the share by the server's IP address anyway.

[ZimBoy]

59 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

Does that machine have your router set as its DNS server of choice, or is it set to 8.8.8.8?

 

DNS could be a red herring here, since it's all Windows networking.

 

Try connecting to the share by the server's IP address anyway.

Unable to connect at all using the IP address I got using ipconfig. I cant even connect to the folder that is working using the IP only by using the server name

 

[ZimBoy]

1 hour ago, Needfuldoer said:

Does that machine have your router set as its DNS server of choice, or is it set to 8.8.8.8?

 

DNS could be a red herring here, since it's all Windows networking.

 

Try connecting to the share by the server's IP address anyway.

I can quite easily create shared folders on the server that can be seen easily from my desktop machine but just not the other way around. 

[ieleja]

- share must be with permissions for 'username' that try to connect to this share,

- in file [C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts] you can write all your 3 hosts:

10.0.0.101	WorkDesktop
10.0.0.102	WorkLaptop
10.0.0.103	MediaPC

(use  your real IPs)

- try to ping from each PING each other,

from WorkDesktop cmd:

ping WorkLaptop
...
ping MediaPC
...

- then try to access some share:

\\MediaPC\sharename

 

 

[ZimBoy]

1 hour ago, ieleja said:

- share must be with permissions for 'username' that try to connect to this share,

- in file [C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts] you can write all your 3 hosts:

10.0.0.101	WorkDesktop
10.0.0.102	WorkLaptop
10.0.0.103	MediaPC

(use  your real IPs)

- try to ping from each PING each other,

from WorkDesktop cmd:

ping WorkLaptop
...
ping MediaPC
...

- then try to access some share:

\\MediaPC\sharename

 

 

This worked great! Full access on all of my devices! Thanks!