Problem Windows Server 2003 to Vista pinging/connectivity issue.

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Howdy all! First time poster, longtime reader...

A month ago, a client called me in to determine why his computer was unable to access the company's server. His laptop was running Windows 7, and the server was a Windows Server 2003. The NetBIOS name was \\Server, and the IP address of the server was known to me. I tested many other computers on the network, and determined that they could all easily access \\Server.

On the Win7 machine, I checked the ipconfig, and nothing was abnormal, but I could not connect to \\Server or the \\IP address, either. I could, however, ping it! So, how could it be that I couldn't connect to it? I even went over to the 2003 Server and tried to connect to the Win7 machine, and a connection was established that way. I disabled firewalls and anti-virus on BOTH machines during this testing.

My friend informed me that I ought to consider setting up a WINS server to solve those issues. So, I began experimenting with that, and figured out how to use WINS successfully. However... in my test experiment at home, I encountered a similar situation where my Windows Server 2003 box was unable to connect to my Vista test system. But, I could make a connection from Vista to the Windows Server 2003 box. Why?

I truly need to get to the bottom of this because I encounter these types of inconsistent networking issues and I feel as though I am probably missing something relatively obvious, but I can't figure it out.

I recorded a video of the issue, but I am unable to post the link due to being a firsttime poster, it can be retrieved by appending "watch?v=3MSMKBYDzcI" at the end of the YouTube URL.

Please chime in with your expertise -- I am most grateful. Thank you all so much for reading!

 

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Firewall enabled?

Try turning on network discovery in advanced adapter settings in network/sharing centre

Under the tcp ipv4 config, WINS tab, enable the LMHOSTS and set NetBIOS to default - see if any changes occur there.

if all other machines tested can access the server - it'll be client related, so no real need to go changing server settings with WINS etc.

has the client machine / user login got the relevant permissions to access the share?

edit:
just spotted in your video at 1:44 - the network connection said it has received 0 bytes - not sure whats going on there...

 

i had a problem connecting my father in law's 2 windows 7 machines for a soho network, it turned out that if the 2 machines that need to talk to each other had a different time (even by 1 second) they would not connect to each other. Probably isn't the issue but worth a check. Apparently it's a security feature MS put in for what ever reason (probably to cause headaches).

 

Thank you all so much for your replies!

I did actually *solve* the connection issue between my test setup. I disabled the (Windows) firewall on the Vista machine, and then suddenly I could ping it. Once I enabled network sharing & discovery, I could re-enable the firewall and it continued to ping and everything was fine.

However, with the Win7 machine and Win2k3 server, I disabled both firewalls on the client & server. So, it isn't a firewall issue. And, I was able to ping in either direction with success. The only thing I couldn't do, was access \\Server from the Win7 system. Curiously, when I went to browse the entire network, I could browse/see other computers on the network, *just* not the \\Server. So frustrating!

Sparky - I wouldn't know what ports to enable to allow a client-to-server LAN connection.

steve_p1981 - I will double-check the time settings. They should be set to synchronize with the time.windows.com server, right? You're saying that if you set the clocks manually they wouldn't connect? Because it would be near impossible to set two system clocks manually and get them to be correct by >1 second.

Apexes - I will check the LMHosts setting. What is that, anyway? Yes, credentials are in place for the client, but that doesn't matter since a prompt for credentials won't even show up. It just says something to the effect of unable to connect/locate \\Server.

It's bizarre!

 

I set the client pc to the pc that was acting as the file server's time manually so i only had to change one time. I don't know how this would affect any corporate networks as i've never worked with proper servers. I saw in your video that you had the 2 computer's right by each other so i'd open the clock on both to follow the second count and when it gets to the start of a minute click apply or ok to set the time and cross your fingers. But if they both have internet access and are set to the same time zone, then you should be able to sync them to what ever server MS use to sync the times of the pc's. That's my theory any way. might not work but it's worth a punt.

PS i have the windows 7 configuration book in my spare room. i'll look this query up and see if i can find a more substantial answer.

 

I got the standard error message saying, in effect, "Windows cannot access \\server" -- "The network path was not found." .. yet, again, I could ping the IP address of the server. They were both on the same subnet, gateway, etc. I just don't get how that can happen. Or what kind of tests I should do to fix it... \:

 

Thanks for chiming in! I was attempting to do a standard SAMBA (is that right?) LAN connection, nothing w/ RDP, so, would this still apply?

 

jk2447 - I understand, but I disabled the firewalls on *both* the Win7 client and Win2k3 server anyway, and was still unable to connect from the Win7 to \\Server.

I used the term "SAMBA" because I don't know what it's called when you're doing a network share in Windows from one system to another. I'm not very good with Linux, no -- just don't know the terminology. ;X

 

Sparky -- I'll have to look into it. I don't *think* there was a domain involved, but I could be wrong. At the time I looked this over, I wasn't familiar enough with Windows Server. But now I know to look for domains, and a bit more about how that works. (I'm self taught with everything, so, relatively new to ActiveDirectory, WINS, and all that stuff). I am inclined to think that there is no domain, because the other people on the network seemed to just be logged in via regular workgroup...

jk2447 - I'm not sure either, but I appreciate the jesting