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Thread ID: 138491	2014-12-07 22:15:00	Laptop can't access my Network folders	Digby (677)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1389688	2014-12-07 22:15:00	Hello I recently setup a network for my Windows 8.1 desk top and my w8.1 laptop. I can access the folders I shared on my desktop from my laptop, but I always get the following message the first time I try to connect. Windows cannot access \\COMPUTER NAME Click diagnose Network path not found Then after clicking on diagnose a few times and waiting for the green bar at the top to go along I seem to get access. But why does it happen all the time. Surely I should be able to go to my shared folders from the Laptop the first time. I can accept a small delay. But I would like to resolve the naming problem. Imho "Diagnose" sucks it has never diagnosed anything for me over the last 5 years. And if the problem is a naming problem then why can it access the folders after a few tries. Nothing has changed.	Digby (677)
1389689	2014-12-07 22:48:00	Did you share the folder in #7 step two / Advanced sharing of the other post, if you don't all shorts of weird things can happen ( or not) :)	wainuitech (129)
1389690	2014-12-07 22:54:00	does it work with \\ip adddress here instead of name ?	nmercer (3899)
1389691	2014-12-07 22:54:00	Did you share the folder in #7 step two / Advanced sharing of the other post, if you don't all shorts of weird things can happen ( or not) :) Yes I think I did. Sometimes it says it cannot access the computer and sometimes it says it cant access the folders. But after a bit waiting and clicking on diagnose it does access the files and I can read and write to them. So to me its a very buggy area. It should either work every time or no. And I just have a simple two machine network.	Digby (677)
1389692	2014-12-07 23:27:00	So to me its a very buggy area. Yep, and win8.1 has the same unfixed WG type network bugs in there since Vista . If it gets really bad, you can make a batch file to manually connect to network shares & schedule that to run on Win startup . Thats a workaround . Not usually needed though.... Try giving all PC's a static IP . Make sure both PC's are on the same Workgroup name . Make sure that network location/zone is not Public connect to the share via static IP, not PC name, eg \\192.168.1.15 Another thought , does the internet work for BOTH when you are having these issues ? ie both have a working network connection Any 3rd party firewall installed on either, or eg norton 360 or other megabundle, do all AV product ?	1101 (13337)
1389693	2014-12-08 00:27:00	@1101 Yes the internet always works first time on the laptop. Its a new laptop so I will check the firewalls etc !	Digby (677)
1389694	2014-12-08 01:24:00	Can you ping the other machine?	Alex B (15479)
1389695	2014-12-15 04:10:00	This is very annoying. My machines are both fairly standard and I have not made any advanced changes. I get two error messages and these have been mentioned on Google for the last 5 years! There seems to be no one resolution to them. Its all try this or try that. The annoying thing is after five minutes of trying to connect to my share folders I get access to them. But after a restart I can no longer get access. Also Windows Diagnostics is hopeless as it reports nothing!	Digby (677)
1389696	2014-12-15 04:11:00	Can you ping the other machine? I would think about trying this, but I cant see how it will help as after 5 minutes I get access and I can access the internet right after booting up.	Digby (677)
1389697	2014-12-15 04:42:00	My machines are both fairly standard and I have not made any advanced changes. Try changing them as previously posted :) OFTEN people don't share fully, as I mentioned earlier in the other post, the file sharing since Vista has been using similar to server sharing ( two stages). Personally I always do both shares and Never have a problem. Not saying the advanced is the actual fix in this case, but if you don't do it and if that's whats causing the problem then it wont ever fix it.	wainuitech (129)
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