Weird Network Share Problem

[Sovereign]

My friend has a very odd network problem. He has a home network with several computers on it, an Arch Linux media server and four Windows 7 PCs.

The problem is that he cannot browse network shares, but it's more complicated than it first appears. The problem machine is called "Mike-Laptop" and it cannot access anything. This happens on the home network and his work network, which are completely different so this implies a problem with the laptop itself. However, this problematic machine CAN see all other machines on the network. It can:
- Ping and be pinged, both by IP and computer name
- Stream media via Windows Media Player both to the laptop and from it
- Have its shares opened by other machines on the network
- Use Remote Desktop to access other machines on the network
- Run Synergy and be controlled by another machine, and vice versa
- Access the Internet

Essentially the only thing that does not work is opening network shares (i.e. \\Server\Share).

The exact error message is:

\\MIKE-DESKTOP is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the network administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.

The specified network provider name is invalid.

The odd thing is that trying to access the Arch Linux server produces a different error message, which is:

Windows cannot access \\lyra

Check the spelling of the name. Otherwise, there might be a problem with your network. To try to identify and resolve network problems, click Diagnose.

Error Code: 0x80004005
Unspecified Error

The network diagnostics don't actually find a problem, that's the weird thing. And as I said before, streaming media, Remote Desktop and essentially everything except browsing folders works.

Solutions We've Tried
- Release/Renew IP
- (Re)install network adapters
- Turn off Wireless N (the laptop has Wireless N)
- Turn off IPv6
- Tried both Ethernet and wireless
- Update drivers for network adapters
- Ensure both Server and Workstation services are running on all machines
- Flush the DNS resolver cache
- Toggle NetBIOS (on/off/default)

We are trying to avoid reformatting, but if that's all that works then so be it...

[Darkstar]

kind of tired here, but just glancing at the post, did you try renaming mike-laptop?
it still sounds like a share/permission problem, the administrater account or account with permissions on the other systems is also present on the problem laptop with full permissions?

[hnzw_rui]

For the Linux server, have you tried if \\ip_address works?

Are these part of a domain or workgroup? If part of a workgroup, have you checked if the name of the workgroup is correct? Also, have you checked permissions on the specific network shares? Perhaps turn on the Guest account temporarily if it isn't already and add it to the folder permissions for now.

[Darkstar]

One more thing, this wouldnt be a Vista laptop would it?

[bubba]

windows 7 and Vista HATE and I mean HATE old samba severs.

Have him update samba on the linux server and then if he cannot connect he will have to tweek the LAN security manager. If it still wont work, then....

I have an old Buffalo Terastation Pro NAS that can not be updated so it can not be access via Win7, my Thecus N4100Pro NAS works like a champ, no issues, no tweaking was needed, but my Thecus is about 5 years newer then my Buffalo.

The errors you have listed are the same errors I get when I try to connect to my buffalo NAS via Win7

[Sovereign]

All the other Windows 7 computers on the network can access the Linux server--that's what's so weird about this. The laptop is Windows 7 Professional. All computers are in "WORKGROUP." All the other computers have no problems accessing any network shares, including the ones on Mike-Laptop. It's a case of "see but not touch" (the laptop's Network shows every other computer on the network but can't open them). I will have him check the permissions on the network shares, but I have a feeling they're set to Everyone Read. Which is why I'm confused that the laptop seems to be excluded from "Everyone."

[Pingspike]

Hey there, im kinda new here. Just wondering about the other network this notebook connects to when at work i think you said?

If you could open a CMD window with admin rights and run these two commands:
ipconfig /registerdns
ipconfig /all

and paste the results here (edit out any internal domain names if you like, for security reasons.)

That should get a fresh ip and dns resolver address. Hopefully these will be your local network gateway's ones. Otherwise if not this may explain the lack of share name resolution etc.

Another option would be the user permissions on this laptop. Because it may have a conflicting account (as mentioned above with administrator) which may not give access to browse shares.

Lastly another option is somethign goofy is going on with the computer browser on the laptop (network shares searcher i guess u can call it). If disabled it might cause problems in looking for computer names/shares.

Anyways let us know how you get on.