I have a Windows 7 PC accessing a share drive on a Server 2008 machine. I have mapped a drive T: to the \\servername\sharename address and can access files using that address but if I type the address in the windows explorer it gives me an error and doesn't allow access.

You access that share using which method? What is the error (write it like it is shown) that is shown? This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

I try and access the \\servername\sharename address (instead of the t: which currently works) by typing it into the address box on the my computer window. I will post the exact wording of the error tomorrow when I get to work and can write it down.(Sorry)

Server is Windows Server 2003 R2 When I access the share via the mapped drive it allows access(the first time it asked for user/pass) When I try to access the drive via typing the \\servername\sharename address in the address box exporer it throws up the following error "\\servername\sharename is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. A device attached to the system is not functioning" Machine trying to access the share is windows 7 professional.

When I try to access the drive via typing the \\servername\sharename address in the address box exporer it throws up the following error "\\servername\sharename is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. A device attached to the system is not functioning" Please make sure if your are able to access the share with the use of the IP address of the server. Use \\x.x.x.x\sharename (x.x.x.x is the IP address of your server). If you are able to access the shared folder with the IP address, please make sure that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled on the client computer. http://ecross.mvps.org/howto/netbt.htm If NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled and you still have the same problem, please check if you've got a A DNS record for this server and add a DNS suffix for your domain on your client computer. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

OK, tried accessing the share using the IP address and it worked. So I enabled netbios over TCPIP and tried accesing it the \\servername\sharename way and it didn't work. Checked that I had a dns record for the server using nslookup and it found the correct IP. If the servername is servername.something.com.au should I add the whole of the name as a DNS suffix? The computer is connected to a workgroup "WORKGROUP" and the server is on a domain "THEDOMAIN" but that is the same for most of the PC's (activedirectory is not enabled)

As your computer is connected to a Workgroup, you should add a DNS suffix for your domain: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc786695(WS.10).aspx Keep NetBIOS overs TCP/IP enabled. That should work. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

OK. I have added the servername.somthing.com.au to the DNS suffix. I can still not access the share. One thing that I must mention is that the name I am using for the PC is the fully qualified dns name instead of the short name(which I assume is the netbios name) When I use the short name for the server it allows me access to the share(after entering a username/password). When I try and access the server using the fully qualified DNS name servername.somethign.com.au without appending the share name it shows all of the shares that are available on the server. When I try and double click on the sharename it shows the message that I mentioned earlier. This seems to indicate that it is something to do with the security on the share and how I am accessing it?

OK. I have added the servername.somthing.com.au to the DNS suffix. I can still not access the share. You put something.com.au only to the DNS suffix (just the domain name which your server is member of). Please clarify the problem: at the beginning of your last reply, you mentioned that you can not access the share. After, you said you are able to access. So, you are able to access or not with the use of the NetBIOS name of the server? Please explain what you want to do exactely. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

ok, the server has a name SERVER01 and it is on a domain WORKDOMAIN. The DNS associates the hostname servername.something.com.au with the ip address of the server and when an XP computer tries to access the share they can either enter \\SERVER01\sharename or they can enter \\servername.something.com.au\sharename. With the new windows 7 computer they can access the share using \\SERVER01\sharename or with the ip address \\192.168.1.1\sharename but they cannot access the share the old way with \\servername.something.com.au\sharename. The problem we have is that a certain 3d modelling software has stored a series of model names inside its file format of the type \\servername.something.com.au\sharename\file01.dat etc. When you open the file in windows 7 there are a series of errors stating that it cannot open the associated files. I am thinking that the problem relates to the same problem with accessing the share using the DNS hostname on windows 7 and that if I fix one then it will fix the other. I hope I have clearly explained what the problem is. Cheers

ok, the server has a name SERVER01 and it is on a domain WORKDOMAIN. The DNS associates the hostname servername.something.com.au with the ip address of the server and when an XP computer tries to access the share they can either enter \\SERVER01\sharename or they can enter \\servername.something.com.au\sharename. With the new windows 7 computer they can access the share using \\SERVER01\sharename or with the ip address \\192.168.1.1\sharename but they cannot access the share the old way with \\servername.something.com.au\sharename. The problem we have is that a certain 3d modelling software has stored a series of model names inside its file format of the type \\servername.something.com.au\sharename\file01.dat etc. When you open the file in windows 7 there are a series of errors stating that it cannot open the associated files. I am thinking that the problem relates to the same problem with accessing the share using the DNS hostname on windows 7 and that if I fix one then it will fix the other. I hope I have clearly explained what the problem is. It is clear now. Please proceed like that 1- Click on start>run>CMD and use nslookup 2- write servername.something.com.au and check if there an IP address that is returned. (Tell me the result) Could you please write the error message that is shown when you type \\servername.something.com.au\sharename\? This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

when I perform a nslookup on the servername.something.com.au I get the servers correct IP address. In fact if I just enter \\servername.something.com.au\ it will pull up the server and display the names of a number of share drives that exist on the server. I can open the share drives that dont have security on them fine. When I try and access the share with the security I get the following error message "\\servername.something.com.au\sharename is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions" When I try and map the drive, or when I access the drive using \\SERVER01\sharename(\\ip.address\sharename\) I get asked for username and password but for some reason I dont when I use \\servername.something.com.au\sharename\

If you use SERVER01.something.com.au, the problem is the same? Don't you have users with blank passwords? I remember I faced a similar problem that was solved by giving users non-blank passwords. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

The users all have non-blank passwords. I haven't tried SERVER01.something.com.au.(something to do tomorrow at work) What I dont understand is why it works on xp and doesn't work on win7. I would have thought that \\servername.something.com.au\sharename would have been the equivalent of \\ip.address\sharename with the addition of a dns lookup of the servername.something.com.au to get an IP address. is there some network security model that doesn't allow accessing a secured sharedrive when using a hostname format. Does it tag the request as being for something over the internet and windows refuses to send login/pass over the internet?

What I dont understand is why it works on xp and doesn't work on win7. I would have thought that \\servername.something.com.au\sharename would have been the equivalent of \\ip.address\sharename with the addition of a dns lookup of the servername.something.com.au to get an IP address. It should be the same if your DNS config is okay (which is your case). Please try to perform what is mentioned in the previous reply and please make sure that you've got the last Microsoft updates on Win7. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Ok, I tried that and it worked. So to summarise the problem is the following I can access using \\ipaddress\sharename I can access using \\servername\sharename I can access using \\servername.something.com.au\sharename I can access usinging \\something.com.au\sharename I can map to \\something.com.au\sharename nslookup something.com.au gives the correct IP address. I am sharing a website on the same server which I can access with http://something.com.au, could that be a problem?