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colemanm
Asked: 2009-09-05 09:12:10 +0800 CST

Can't access network or printer shares

  • 772

All of a sudden on our network, none of the client machines can see any of the network shares or shared printers at all (XP clients, SBS2003 server), and cannot browse the domain via "My Network Places." I've looked through the event logs, but don't see anything out of the ordinary. We've rebooted the server a couple of times with no change.

I feel like it's either a Computer Browser service problem or that it's somehow DNS-related, but I'm kinda baffled...

windows-server-2003 file-sharing print-server

6 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    1. Check the event logs! I cannot stress enough how much this can help in troubleshooting just about any problem in Windows, and is often the last place that people look. If this doesn't already point you in the right direction, then read on...

    2. Using the logs from the client, try to establish a timeframe of when the underlying problem first surfaced.

    3. Using the timeframe established above, establish what occurred on the domain controllers around that time.

    4. Make sure that the Computer Browser, DNS Client and Workstation services are running on the client (also check DHCP if you are using DHCP in your office).

    5. Make sure that the Computer Browser, DNS Server, Network Logon, Server, and Workstation services are running on the domain controllers (also check DHCP if you are using DHCP in your office).

    6. If the Server service is not running on one of your domain controllers, and it refuses to start, it's time for a reboot of that domain controller (a known problem with 2003 servers when they experience a low-memory condition that had me scratching my head for hours earlier just this week when all of a sudden none of the domain members could access the group policies).

    7. Take a closer look at the event logs! If you don't understand an error, search for the error with your favorite search engine. This almost goes without saying, but I'm amazed how many times I've been able to quickly find a solution to some of the most bizarre issues (or at least point me in the right direction) simply by cutting and pasting an error message.

    If you're still stuck, then please update your question with some more detail to help us help you more.

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  2. What is your domain architecture? If I can guess from you comment, You have one and only one domain controller which is inaccessible, and another server and few xp client that all work fine.

    The browsing is not the issue. The sharing is. The master browser is probably the domain controller, and since its not accessible the browsing doesn't work. But the sharing is much more important than the browsing, so ignore it for now.

    How is the domain controller accessible? can you ping it? can you RDP to it? Can he see shares on the other server? can he see shares on the xp clients?

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  3. Some suggestions: Make sure the DNS service is running. Make sure the client computers have their DNS set to the servers ip address. You can setup DNS on both servers for redundancy in case the DNS service or one server stops working.

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  4. I think you're on the right path thinking DNS and Igal's asking some good questions. Check the local hosts logs for RPC errors, if you suspect NetBIOS, try at command prompt:

    nbtstat -R

    and/or

    nbtstat -RR

    Prior to forcing master browser, (I'm not 100% behind the idea that's the problem, but you know your network best) check it first with the support tools "browstat"

    browstat status

    and you can force an election by restarting the browser service, or using that same tool above:

    browstat elect \device\netbt_ieepro1 (your domain name here)

    Reading your comment you say that your clients can't see the domain controller, that's a HUGE problem there. They need to be able to see it. Check your SRV records in DNS, and/or on the local node check what the machine/logon sees as the DC. (You can do that by opening a command prompt, typing "set" and dumping the env variables and looking for something that looks like this:

    LOGONSERVER=\(your domain controller here)

    Try restarting the netlogon service on your DC? (Or probably in your case, just giving it a good reboot wouldn't hurt)

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  5. I spent all morning checking blogs for this error the first thing to do is make sure that the date and time is set correctly and then reboot the server

    • -1

  6. Well i have 7 servers my 7th server (2003) will see other servers and the servers (2003) will see the server 7 but i could not connect to the 7th server via a workstation (win 10) looking for a share until i adjusted its time and i made sure the region and language settings were all the same ( Australia ) .

    Now for the shrimp

    Regards

    Fabio

    • -1