Can't connect to network drive by name in Windows 7

I have a network attached drive, plugged into my router. Im connecting to the router from the client pc using WIFI. I'm using Windows 7 -

I can see the drive using it's IP address: 192.168.0.197 However, if i try to use it's name - "nasunit" then windows displays the "cannot access \\nasunit" box....

It used to work (up until an hour or so ago)

I haven't changed anything that i can remember....

Has anyone got any ideas as to how i can fix this? I could add an entry to the hosts file, however, i shouldn't need to do that....

alex

Posted 2009-09-21T21:46:48.547

Reputation: 434

Answers

Ping NASUNIT to verify that your PC sees the correct IP address for that resource. If it doesn't, do an IPCONFIG /ALL to verify that your DNS servers are correct. You can also do an NSLOOKUP on the name to make sure that you're getting the correct IP information from those DNS servers.

Mark

Posted 2009-09-21T21:46:48.547

Reputation: 3 009

how would one know that your DNS servers are correct? What would you expect to see from an nslookup, and how would you know if it's improperly configured? – MedicineMan – 2010-09-18T19:45:17.207

It all depends on how things are configured within your router. The DNS servers on your PC could point to your router's IP address (which will, in turn, use your ISP's DNS servers) OR it could use the public DNS servers provided by your ISP.

< – Mark – 2010-09-20T11:50:40.413

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Check out this link for an explanation of NSLOOKUP: http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Using-NSLOOKUP-DNS-Server-diagnosis.html

– Mark – 2010-09-20T11:51:41.487

I checked the settings on my router... i enabled "NetBIOS announcement" and set "NetBIOS node type" to Mixed Mode and it seems to work.... not sure why...?

alex

Posted 2009-09-21T21:46:48.547

Reputation: 434

don't forget to mark your answer – MedicineMan – 2010-09-18T19:59:39.083

Do you have a DNS server running on your network? Can you ping your router by name? What does nslookup return? What does ipconfig /all show as your DNS servers?

jswoods7

Posted 2009-09-21T21:46:48.547

Reputation:

This should go on superuser.com.

That said, the first thing I'd try is power-cycling the router, then if that doesn't work powercycle the drive.

squillman

Posted 2009-09-21T21:46:48.547

Reputation: 5 676

Go to the windows command prompt. (Start-cmd).

Type ipconfig /flushdns

Type ipconfig /registerdns

See if that fixes your problem.

Kevin Speidel

Posted 2009-09-21T21:46:48.547

Reputation:

Can't connect to network drive by name in Windows 7 - IP Address works though!

Answers