Windows 7 Sharing Problem

[neo668]

I have a home server (Windows 8), my main rig (Windows 7) and an Android phone.

Recently, my main rig will start out working normally and then suddenly be unable to share its drives and folders though they have already been shared. This usually happens if I leave the main running overnight. I can't access the shared files and folders in my main rig from the home server or my Android phone.

However, there is no problem accessing files and folders in the Windows 8 home server from either my main rig or my phone. Anytime. I have to reboot my main rig for the shares to return to normal.

This has never happened on my Windows 7 machine before (many years) but only recently. I'm guessing it might have something to do with a Windows 7 update. I've restored an old Windows 7 system image but the problem just returns. How do I fix this? Thank you.

 

[SMOKEU]

Next time you can't access the shares, try pinging the file server (allow ICMP-v4 echo request for the inbound rules if you're using Windows Firewall). Also try doing an ipconfig on the failed file server to see if it still has an IP address.

You could also assign the file server a static IP address if you're using DHCP and access the shares using the IP address instead of the file server hostname (eg, "\\ip.address\ShareName".

I don't know too much about these sort of things but let us know how you get on as I'm interested to know the fix for it. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along soon enough.

 

[neo668]

I had left my Win 7 rig on all night last night. When I woke up this morning I tried to access the shared files and folders on the Win 7 machine with my Android phone. Surprisingly the shares were accessible. It seems my problem is solved.

I don't know what I did to fix it as I did a lot of things yesterday which I found on the web. This was one of them.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297684#LetMeFixItMyselfAlways

I hope it stays fixed. If not I'll come back here to report.

 

[SMOKEU]

Let us know how you get on.

 

[neo668]

The problem has returned.

I tried to connect with my phone again and this is what I got.

Funny thing is that there were no problems connecting to the Win 8 machine with my phone though the Win 8 machine has not been turned off for over a week.

And I can connect to the Win 7 machine through the Win 8 machine.

I rebooted the Win 7 machine but I still couldn't connect with the phone. So I rebooted the phone and now I can connect to the Win 7 machine. But I know this won't last long.

Conclusion: It's the phone that's causing the problem or I should upgrade the Win 7 machine to Win 8.

EDIT

After much experimenting I believe the kernel of the Android phone may be the culprit. I've now tried 3 different kernels and each yielded different networking (with my Win 7 machine) results. But all 3 kernels worked flawlessly with Win 8. Quite evidently, Win 8 has superior networking capabilities over Win 7. I've now settled on a kernel that seems to be working well. But I'll only know tomorrow.