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Hi folks,

Need a second set of eyes on an issue I’ve run into. Not certain if its just a run of the mill folder sharing issue or some odd Windows 11 specific issue as I’ve come across two users at different sites (unrelated businesses), I got the double whammy of the first site being the day before my vacation and today’s client was first day back from vacation.

So I’m going to focus on today’s client. Its a small office, about 7 or 8 years back they had me setup a basic file server PC (Lenovo desktop with Windows 10), two folders setup as shared folders. One was a file repository and the other was the database storage location for software they were using at the time (no longer in the picture). This is just called SERVER.

So this office has 5 computers, three of those PCs are Windows 10, one haven’t layed eyes on yet, and the fifth is our problem child running Windows 11. This PC is a Microsoft Surface Tablet running Windows 11 Home. The client had me stop in over the summer (June or July) and I mapped a drive to each shared folder on SERVER, mapped to X and Z no issue worked fine for a month or two.
Got an email from them today that he couldn’t access this folder, it was coming up drive letter in use. Figured ok had this before, disconnected the drive, tried to remap and that’s where I’ve run into nothing but issues. If I use file explorer and try to navigate to \Server or \192.168.0.50 both will give me the error “Windows cannot access \server (\192.168.0.50). Check the spelling of the name… yada yada 0x80004005”
Checked with 3 of the 4 other PCs, no issues accessing those folders, even remapped one to be certain. All good for them.
I can ping SERVER, I can ping it by IP. If I use the Surface and click on another PC on the network I will get challenged for login credentials. Did an DNSflush, winsock reset, tested the connection through the wireless and ethernet all the same issue.
The network profile on the Surface is set to private, still have the workgroup set to the default WORKGROUP, disabled the Windows Defender Firewall, restarted network equipment, gave the server a new IP address, enable SMBv1, ran SFC (came back clean), restarted both Server and Surface but I don’t seem to be getting traction with it, so it got me thinking that maybe there is a Windows 11 specific issue that I just haven’t come across yet that one of you may have.
Any thoughts on what I might be missing?

4 Spice ups
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Alright sort of got this figured out but would appreciate some validation in my diagnosis.

Returned to the site this morning to continue my battle, still having the same Windows cannot access issue. Started thinking of alternate solutions to get them up and going while I try to figure the issue between the Server and the Surface so I looked at changing the file hosting from Server to the StudentPC that was getting very little use for the time being. The other reason I chose this PC was due to when I clicked on it under Network on the Surface I was getting challenged for a username and password, however in the process of setting up the shared folder to mimic how it was configured on the Server I found the root cause of my connection problem.

So on the StudentPC, I created the folder, shared it, turned off password protected sharing… now when the Surface attempts to connect to that PC suddenly I’m getting the same error as the server, turn password protected sharing back on I get challenged for credentials.

Went to the Server, turned on password protected sharing, now the Surface can access the Server as log as it has credentials. Created credentials for all their users, they can all connect fine now.

So it appears that Windows 11 must have received a recent update that prevents Windows 11 PCs from accessing computers with password protected sharing disabled.

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With regards to the Org…

  • But what is the set up like and what is this Org (studentPC) ?
  • Then why using a PC or lappy as a file server ? Why not suggest a NAS at least ?
  • Then how are the users machines setup ? Any Domain ? Are users local administrators ?

As for the connection to the “file server”…

  • can the user machines ping the file server ? can the user machine tracert to the file server (any weird routes) ?
  • how many “users” were created on the file server if there is no Domain ? Does these “users” have password expiry ?
  • Does the file server have any protection like AV and/or DDOS etc ?
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Going to answer in point form

With regards to the Org… (org= original or organization?)

  • But what is the set up like and what is this Org (studentPC) ?
    The student PC was for receptionist that had retired, so its just been a spot for students to work from

  • Then why using a PC or lappy as a file server ? Why not suggest a NAS at least ?
    They use to use a program that required a “server-side” client in order to manage a database for software that wasn’t compatible with a NAS

  • Then how are the users machines setup ? Any Domain ? Are users local administrators ?
    No domain, each PC is just running a single local account so they are admins

As for the connection to the “file server”…

  • can the user machines ping the file server ? can the user machine tracert to the file server (any weird routes) ?
    No weird routes, I could ping by name and by IP just fine
  • how many “users” were created on the file server if there is no Domain ? Does these “users” have password expiry ?
    It was just setup as a WORKGROUP, permission and security was set to allow the everyone group, password protected sharing was turned off. As password protected sharing was turned off there were no passwords to expire. This was outlined by the publisher of the software they were using at the time, they stopped using this software a few years back. It isn’t in use on any PC or on the Server
  • Does the file server have any protection like AV and/or DDOS etc ?
    All their PCs are just relying on Microsoft Defender
    [/quote]
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Org = organisation

i do not think there is really something called “server-side” client for file servers, mainly using SMB shares. Unless the application needed to be installed on a Windows OS (but windows non-server OS) ? Most NAS can do SMB shares.

Then as for connection, sometimes is better to use tracert than ping as it will show you the routes taken, which can sometimes show why cannot connect.

Then as for shares, are you using the share to a local user (of the file server with a null password) or did you just allow “everyone” read + write access ?
Coz in Windows, there is a huge difference between no password, null password vs giving “everyone” access ?
If security is not an issue, why not just give “everyone” share rights & also “everyone” NTFS rights to the folders and files ?

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I always like to double check shortened words and acronyms to make sure I’m reading properly, lol.
Sorry, I called it a server side client for lack of a better term coming to mind this morning while trying to get my kids off to school, essentially their old software worked like how Sage or QB manage multiple users connecting to it. Don’t remember what it was called, but they were super happy to find a cloud based alternative.

It was configured with the folders sharing and security set to Everyone and password protected sharing was disabled. So for years up until last Friday could just navigate to the share folder without any challenge for credentials.

There network is super basic, one router connected to a modem.

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Also maybe try to reboot the Win10/11 “file server” regularly as Win10/11 have max TCPIP concurrent connections and/or Windows Updates that might disrupt certain services until patches are fully installed (during reboots).

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Sorry got out on the road and got busy. Server gets rebooted every weekend, I had to go through edited the registry settings on the file server to fix the concurrent connections issue back when they were using the software I’d mentioned.
I got out to the pre-vacation site I’d mentioned and made the same changes there and it worked for them as well