I have one user on my network (Windows 2008 domain), EMC NX 4 storage - CIFS shares, client Windows 7 sp1 64 bit. who has a set of network folder that she has full rights to. One of the network folders is a redirected My Documents folder set to always be available offline. The My documents folder is in fact always available. But the other folders in the same directory on our EMC NX 4 sometimes appear unavailable to this user. In windows explorer they appear with a gray x next to them. This used to occur when the user was accessing our network using our SSL VPN. But recently it has also occurred when the user is at our office on our network and has occurred using wireless or wired connection. The My Documents folder remains available and so far no other network share is affected - she can access all of the other CIFS shares. I have double checked permissions, removed permissions for the user and put them back, with no positive result. So last week, I setup a brand new notebook for the user. On the old notebook the folder appeared with a gray x and on the new notebook it was available. I did not know the cause, but at least the problem was resolved....I thought. But no, after a few hours - the new notebook would not let the user access these same folders. It is not consistent, sometimes the folders are available and some times not. I can't figure out any reason for it. The user has access to other network shares on the same server, in the same cifs server, as well as on other windows servers. The user is setup the same as other users, same software installed, etc. I have only had one other user who experienced a similar event when connecting through our SSL VPN, but it only happened one time for them and not since. What could cause this? I look forward to your advice. PS: I have researched this, and seen other users with similar issues, but not intermittent and not where some shared folders are available and not, and not for one single user.Fred Zilz

Hi, May I know the exactly error mesasge when the network folders are unavailable? Can you ping the EMC NX 4 storage when the network folders are unavailable? Meanwhile, if any router is used, please reset it or update its firmware, update the network adapter driver, enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP . 1. Go to "Control Panel -> Network and Internet ->Network Connections". 2. Right-Click on the connection and choose Properties. 3. Click "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Version 4" in the list. 4. Click Properties, and then click Advanced. 5. On the Advanced TCP/IP settings windows, go to "WINS" tab. 6. Under NetBIOS setting, click "Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP", and then click OK. Niki TechNet Subscriber Support If you are TechNet Subscription user and have any feedback on our support quality, please send your feedback hereNiki Han TechNet Community Support

Thank you for your response Niki, The error message is the "... You might not have permission to use this network resource..." I will see if I can grab the full text of the message and post back. Yes we can access the storage server, in fact the user has full normal access to other shared folders on the same server. There is no router between the user and the share when in the user is in the office and this occurs. I will check the TCP/IP version 4 and Enable NetBIOS but as this does not affect other shared folders for this user that are on the same server, it does not seem to be the protocol. It's making me crazy, because I don't see what could be different about these folders as opposed to other shared folders on the same network, and even on the same server. Other folders she has access to based on AD groups she belongs to, in the case of these folders it is based on her AD user account - the user and administrators have full rights. But if it were a permission issue, it would be all or nothing. Since it is an intermittent issue, it does not seem possible that it is a permission issue and I have in the past stripped the folders of permissions and re-applied permissions. Very strange, and the fact that this issue came back after switching the user to a new notebook (and we did not use a backup and restore or transfer settings) says that it has to be something related to the folders, their contents or the user's ad profile in some way. Fred Zilz

Hi FredZilz, Thanks for your reply. Per my understanding, you are unable to access the shares on the Server from Windows 7 client, and it reports that "you might not have permission to use this network resource" on your client. Furthermore, I saw that you were unable to access the server's share even if you log the user on the other computer. So I would like to ask some questions below for narrowing down the issue: 1. Which method did you use for accessing the share? Map Drive? \\servername ? \\FQDN ? or \\IPaddress . 2. Is it that all the method you tried cannot access the shares on the server? 3. Did you find any errors in the event logs related to this problem from Windows 7? Besides, based on my experience, the shares made offline can be accessed is that it is accessing the local cache instead of accessing the remote shares. So I think the problem is connected with the permission issue or the connection issue with smb. To get the further troubleshooting, please help me gather the network trace on your client Windows 7 for checking more clues in it: Please help me collect the Network Trace on the problematic client for finding the procedure of the issue when reproducing the problem: Download Microsoft Network Monitor Tool from the following link and install it on the client. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=983b941d-06cb-4658-b7f6-3088333d062f Start Network Monitor at "Start" ->"Program"-> "Microsoft Network Monitor 3.4" -> "Microsoft Network Monitor 3.4" the client. Please clear the cache of your client first by using steps below. Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. Type ipconfig/flusdns to clear the DNS cache. Type nbtstat RR to clear the NetBIOS cache. And then, on the left-panel, check the "LAN connection" and uncheck the other unnecessary connections on the client. NOTE: On Windows 2008 R2, please right-click "Microsoft Network Monitor 3.4", click "Run as Administrator" Click "Tools", click "Options", switch to the "Capture" tap, and set the "Temporary capture file size (MB)" to 200 the client. Click "New Capture", click "Start" on the Capture menu in the Network Monitor window. Now from the client, please perform the following steps: Ping the server with \\servername first.Reproduce the problem.At the same time, please capture the screenshot of the error result to me after you reproducing the problem. After that, click "Stop" on the Capture menu on client, and click "File"->"Save as" to save the captured files. Please send the files to the workspace. Note that: please let me know the IP address of the server. Then, please upload the files to one network disk for me to download. If there is anything unclear in my email, please don't hesitate to let me know. Thanks for your time and efforts! Best Regards, Annie Gu

Hi FredZilz, I would like to know if you could give me any update with the issue you encountered. If there is anything unclear in my email, please don't hesitate to let me know. Thanks for your time! Best Regards, Annie Gu

Sorry for the lag in response AnnieGu, I have been fighting other fires, but this is still an issue. In regards to your statement regarding the local cache - yes folders that are set to be available offline are visible but also other shared folders on the same server are available even though they do not have a local cache. I found a seperate interesting an probably related issue. On one specific computer, I setup a user and tried to redirect their my documents folder, I found that the user had no rights to the folder - but on another computer I logged the user in and they had no trouble reaching the folder. Now, hear is the really interesting part. the folder \\servername\Redirected$\user was unavailable (may not have permission), but \\servername\allfolders\redirected$\user was available (this is the same folder on the server so the rights on the folder are the same). And from one computer the user has no trouble accessing their folder using either path from the other computer at the exact same time, the first path does not work but the second does. So I tried on that computer a different user and had the same issue. Interstingly the computers with these issues are both Dell E series notebooks and the ones with out the issue Dell desktops. Note: not all of my Dell E Series notebooks have this issue, but the ones that do are E series notebooks. So no, I am questioning what is going on. How can one computer not have access to a specific share regardless of the user logged onto the computer, but the same user has access to the folder from a different computer? I will try to get a chance to do the network trace today or tomorrow. Thank you again for your interest in helping me resolve this issue.Fred Zilz