
How to fix the ‘Network Error – Windows Cannot Access \\ Shared Drive’ Error?
“Windows Cannot Access \\ Computer Name” is mainly a network-related problem of your Local Area Connection and generally this error occurs due to the lack of network permissions, improper installed Network Drivers, and sometimes a single corrupted Windows Registry can be the reason too.
Most of the time people have this problem right after creating a new LAN Connection in their network and mainly the error popup message appears when every time you try to open the shared folder located on the other computer.
The bad thing which I really hate about this network error is, not only on the folder you can also get this error message on any network file or even on the network shared drive too. And believe it or not but sometimes it gets really hard to find where the actual fault is, and what do we really need to do to fix the problem.
Network error
Windows cannot access \\ Computer Name
You do not have permission to access \\ Computer Name contact your network administrator to request access.
If you’re having this problem on your Local Area Network, then I don’t think you should really need to worry about it;
Because with the help of this tutorial I’ll definitely going to help you out by showing you, how you can change the permissions configuration of your computer to read and write the files or folder on the shared network drive through your Windows Network Place.
So, Let’s See How to Troubleshoot This Error;
This problem can occur on any version of windows, even if you are using the latest Windows 10 or running an old Windows 7 Computer. Normally, Access Denied Network Error comes because of some kind of network-related permission problem. But sometimes there are some other reasons for this error to shows up on your computer’s screen and here’s the list of those reasons which can be possibly happening on your computer:
- Improper LAN Connection
- Improper LAN Sharing Setting
- Improper Drive or Folder Security Setting
- TCP/IP NetBIOS Setting is Unconfigured
- Windows Registry got Corrupted
- Network Driver got Corrupted
1# Solution – Improper LAN Connection and Sharing Setting
If you have recently created a LAN connection by yourself, or maybe tried to start the file sharing, or changed the LAN Wire or Modem, or just made any changes in your LAN configuration, then this is the time where you’ll need to rectify it all.
Let’s start with the connections and wires;
To make a connection between two different network devices like a Modem and Computer, we actually need to use a Straight cable. On the other hand, the same network devices like ‘PC to PC’ or ‘Modem to Modem’ need a Cross-over cable to interact properly.
The reason behind explaining that is because if you have recently changed any cable in your network then make sure the cable you used is suitable for the proper connection.
Both of the cables look exactly the same but the internal wiring is completely different and that’s why people usually get confused while creating their PC to PC LAN connection.
The next configuration is the ‘Sharing Setting’. Check for the proper IP configuration on every connected device in your network. If all the PC’s have an IP address configured in it, then make sure it won’t conflict. Confliction mainly happens when two different PC has the same IP configuration.
You’ll also need to assign the IP address to all of your Share PCs if you found the setting is pre-set on “Obtain the IP Address Automatically”.
To change or check your saved setting, you can go to the ‘Network and Sharing Center‘ and then on the left sidebar, click on “Change Adapter Settings” option. Now right-click on your network adapter and select “Properties“. After that, select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” and then click on its “Properties” button.
Then on the ‘Advanced sharing setting’, make sure everything is configured as listed below:
- Turn on network discovery.
- Turn on file and printer sharing.
- Allow windows to manage homegroup connection (recommended).
- Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files in the public folders.
- Use 128-bit encryption to help protect files sharing connections (recommended).
- Turn off password protected sharing.
Note: Make these changes on your current selected network profile.
You’ll also need to check that all your shared PC is working on the same network Workgroup. To check or change the workgroup, you can go your ‘Computer properties’ and click on the “Change setting” button under the “Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings”, and then click on “Change…”.
After that click on the “Network ID” on the same pop-up window and then follow the instruction given in the picture below:
2# Solution – Improper Drive or Folder Security Setting
80% of you will be going to fix your problem by following this particular solution because generally, people do forget to change the security setting while making any drive/file/folder shared in their network place.
So now I’m going to show you how you can easily configure the permission setting to connect with all devices in your network just to read and write the files or folder.
If you’re having this problem with all of your network drives and folder and wanted to grant permission to all of those shared folders or drives at once, then it’s not possible and you’ll need to repeat all these steps for all of your shared drives and even for a single file and folder.
If the list of sharable File/folder contains in a single drive, then granting permission for that single drive can make all the internal File/Folder read and writeable for the other network computer.
Step 1 – Give Sharing Permission to Everyone
To configure the sharing permission, First, you’ll need to right click on that drive, file or folder which you wanted to share and then select ‘Properties’.
In the properties window, select the “Sharing” tab and then click on “Advanced Sharing …” button. Now make sure you have ticked on the “Share this folder” button.
After that, click on the “Permission” button and give “Everyone” user the Full Control.
Step 2 – Add “Everyone” Username in Security Tab.
This step allows you to add a new username into the security tab of your file/folder/drive’s properties, just to make it accessible to all users which is connected to your LAN.
To grant the access to everyone, we actually need a username called “Everyone” under the security tab, so your OS can permit other connted PC’s to cross the security. But still, there is no username called ‘Everyone’ is mentioned under the security tab of your shared drive, file or folder.
So now again in the properties windows, click on the Security Tab and then select the “Edit” button which will lead you to another pop-up window, where you can add the username by clicking on another “Add…” button.
Now in the third pop-up window, you’ll have to click on the “Advanced …” button which will help to find all of the linked usernames connected to your PC.
On the fourth pop-up, click on the “Find Now” button to make your computer to show you the list of all available users;
And in between all those usernames, you’ll find the username called “Everyone” in the list, which you need to select and then click on “OK”.
After that, you’ll again need to click on the “Ok” and at this moment you will be seeing the username “Everyone” is showing under the users and groups setting.
Step 3 – Allowing Permission to “Everyone”.
When you have done with adding the username, then it’s the time when you need to grant the full permission to the username “Everyone” in the security tab, just to make it accessible from any LAN connected computer.
Now, click on the username “Everyone” and then tick on the Full control option and then click on “Apply”.
After that, you will able to see the “Windows Security” pop-up on the screen, which will apply the setting for all of your files containing in that shared drive or folder.
So, at this moment you’ll just need to sit back and watch the whole process until it gets completed and make sure you don’t click on the cancel button or otherwise you’ll get the same problem while accessing some files in the future.
After that, you can actually able to read and write the files on that drive right after when this whole security configuration gets done. If not, then just continue.
3# Solution – Configure TCP/IP NetBIOS
‘TCP/IP NetBIOS’ also known by its another name “NetBT” and it’s a network protocol based on session layer of the OSI model, allowing applications on separate computers to communicate over a local area network.
Using the NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) service on the network allows users to share files, printers, and log on to the network. If the NetBT service is unconfigured, some of these functions might not be available to the user. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.
So, make sure on every shared computer of your network the ‘NetBIOS over TCP/IP’ is enabled and to confirm that, here is the procedure given below:
- To change the configuration, first, you’ll need to search the “services.msc” on the Windows Starts Menu to open the ‘Windows Servies’ (where you can easily start, stops, and configures any Windows services).
- Now on the Services window, search for a service named “TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper” and double-click on it. Then on the pop-up general tab, change the ”Startup type setting” to the ‘Automatic’.
After when you have done with the services configuration, then now it’s the time when you need to enable the ‘NetBIOS over TCP/IP’ setting in your computer’s Network Adaptor.
To do that, you’ll have to again open the “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” properties. Then on the pop-up, click on the “Advanced…” button, select “WINS” tab and pick “Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP” as your main preference. And that’s it.
4# Solution – Corrupted Windows Registry
The Windows Registry is a hierarchical configuration storage database that stores settings for the Microsoft Windows Operating System and other installed software in your Windows.
The registry is the main target when a virus or malware starts to corrupt your windows and a single changed value in your Windows Registry can cause this network related problem. You can fix your Windows Registry by using some best in class Registry Cleaner and that will fix your problem by just doing some simple steps.
But before using that, I have some couple of manual registry settings which you can try to fix the issue;
First, open your Windows Registry Database by using the run command “regedit”. You can press Windows + R Key to instantly show the Run Commander. Or you can just search the “regedit” on Starts Menu.
When it gets open, go to this location “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSLicensing\” into the database.
Now expand the ‘MSLicensing’ folder and then delete both of the “HardwareID” and “Store” sub-folders listed under the expansion. Make sure you only delete sub-folders and not the whole MSLicensing.
This can fix the connection licensing problems in case, your connection is having any.
After that, go to the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system” location and then create a new DWORD Value named LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy and then click Modify or double click on the key and type “1” under the ‘Value data’.
If still not fixed? here’s an article about;
How to Fix Registry Related Issues using a Registry Cleaner?
The Registry is a very important database that resides within your Operating System. It contains vital information on all the settings, preferences, etc. on hardware and software installed in your rig. When it comes to programs, the Registry also maintains data like the location of the program, what is required to launch the program, what sort of resources it needs from the computer, and so on and so forth… Read More
5# Solution – Corrupted Windows Drivers
Computer operating systems are able to support network adapters via software known as Network driver. Network drivers are actually that you needed in order to connect your computer to any network. If something bad happens to your network drivers then it’s quite possible that you get some constant errors on your screen while working in the network area.
Now updating the drivers is the best thing what you can do to fix all the drivers related issue and make everything back to normal.
What Is a Network Driver, And How To Install It?
As a PC user at some point, you have heard of Network Drivers. Have you ever wondered what network drivers is all about? Prior to figuring out what a network driver is, let us get to know few things about something called Network Adapter… Read More
“That’s all for now, thanks for sticking with the article, and you know it will always good to let me know about the article, in the comments below.” 🙂
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Totally and excellent helpful
Yes, thank you. But I still have the issue of computers asking me for an id and password when I click on a shared folder. What gives? It works and then it doesn’t. I hate windows networking. Is there an app that can do this better?
try this sharing setting, which all I listed in the link http://www.deskdecode.com/how-to-setup-two-computers-via-lan-in-windows-7-for-sharing/2
THANK U VERY MUCH MY PROBLEM IS SOLVED
You’re the best! This worked a treat! Thank you.
After doing this all things m still getting erro, what should I do now?
try this,
http://www.deskdecode.com/how-to-setup-two-computers-via-lan-in-windows-7-for-sharing/
and make sure you do everything right.
Thank u so much…. excellent way of explanation……
مشكور اخي على الشرح الوافي …جزاك الله خيرا
thank you so much, really help full…
It worked. Thanks a lot!
I have applied both methods but in vain. 🙁
Thanks a lot! It worked wonders.
Thanks! you’re a star.
i thought I was very computer literate but I have been messing around unsucessfully trying to get my Windows 7 and Windows 10 systems linked. Your 2 tutorials got me up and running within 30 mins. All disks available to all systems. Many thanks. Much appreciated.
Thanks very helpful
thanks a lot man very helpful
Thank you, Madhur. The settings you outlined above worked perfectly. Even Microsoft’s own guides omit the security settings in step 3. When I first installed W7, I never did get sharing to work and finally gave, resorting to “sneaker-net” for the last several years.
‘
Madhur – Thank you for your excellent concise and complete explanations! I have now been able to set up a number of shared folders between my Windows 7 and 10 laptops. You’ve made my life easier. Way to go!
Thank you, Madhur. I can now wirelessly access my main work folder on my new Surface Pro 4 from my desktop Core2Quad and work with it normally. You really know your stuff!
hi im getting this kind of error what i can do for it
\\10.0.*.* 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.
logon failure: account currently disabled.
try this
https://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/solved-is-not-accessible-you-might-not-have-permission-to-use-this-network-resource-344370/
Thank you it’s really work
100000000000 THANKS!! You made my day! I spent so much time before finding your site! Thanks again.
11111111111111111111111111 thanks
Problem solved, thanks!
Thanks buddy, problem solved….
Thank you ! Was struggling for some time.
Step 2 solved it for me.
This is such a simple and brilliant guide !
Thank you, Madhur, what a hero you are! But I’ve been sharing laptops on a wifi network for years and never had to go thru these hoops before. Never mind, steps 2&3 have solved my problem and I am very grateful.
This has fix access to second computer. Now to figure out how to delete Default,migrated.
thanks a lot, thanks for being good
Helpful, many thanks!
Thanks very much helpful
A big thank you for your number two 😀
Madhur, in the internet world of everybody just throwing out guesses and wasting everyone’s time by making them read through post after post of “try this”…”try that”, you have cut through all of that BS and went straight to an ACTUAL SOLUTION! I was ready to throw my computer out the window before I found your article. Within 5 minutes of working through your steps, all of my networking issues are solved and all of my computers are able to share data again. THANK YOU MADHUR! 😀
Thanks man. 😀
THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!
#2 Solution did the trick! Thank you! Spent a few hours online trying to figure it out.
solution 2 fix the problem thanks a lot!
i have tried all these options but i can cannot have access to my folders/drive, i keep having the same error message popping up. so please find a way of helping me.
..
OH MY GOD! THANK YOU SO MUCH MADHUR! I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO SET UP A CROSS OVER NETWORK THE WHOLE DAY, AND YOUR TUTORIAL WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO ACTUALLY SOLVED MY PROBLEMS!!
YOU’RE AWESOME!
Thank you for your posting. Really good works!
Thank you sooooooooooooo much dear
really very helpful tutorial and not only for me . . . . .
very best thing
using very simple language and every step with picture
well done
OH MY GOD THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH. I have spent days trolling post looking for a solution to this.
hi there, thank you very much! it worked well for sharing with everyone. but what if i just want to share a folder with a particular person? not everyone for security concerns?I tried to follow your instructions and change everyone to the person i want to share with,but it didn’t work.
Thanks
Thank you so much it was really very helpful !!!
It worked bro but transfer speed is very low. any advice to increase it? Thank you.
Use fiber optics. 🙂
Step 2 Worked like a charm for me!
This is wonderful, thank you so much!
Problem: Have multiple computers that I am trying to linked, and I keep getting in due to ‘Do not have permission…..’ in Share File.
Solution:
Step 2 – Add The “Everyone” Username In The Security To Make That Shared Drive Accessible From Any Computer.
if i use router device must use static ip as you explained, or can use dynamic ip?
Hi Madhur,
I have admin rights in my AD account. I have shared a drive with everyone but I’m not able to access that drive on a specific system and able to access rest of all the system’s.
Please suggest.
you can contact me on my mobile number : 9752460610
Thank you so much my problem is also resolved by this technique 🙂
Dude this knocks crap put of microsoft forums lack of info and stock, unrelated answers from their supposed experts. First time I have seen adding everyone in security tab anywhere. You rock,Thanks!
Thank you chief it has worked for me Good keepup
hi I am facing a problem working as IT support person facing many computers with laptops desktops with error windows licence will expire soon message did many things but cant solved
by the wy thanks for above information really great help to people like me
thanks
Thank you SOOO much. Solution 2 worked.
Thank you…..wasted a lot of time before finding the solution here.
Make the system enabled for accessing for Everyone from the Windows registry. It will help to access the windows to access the specific computer names.
thanks a lot it work for me
I went through all steps but I still get the message when I click on the network share. However, I can access subdirectories on the share if I type in the address of it directly. Any advice on how I can fix it?
Thank you so much!
BTW – when sharing folders only, one has to do the steps under “Give Sharing Permission to Everyone” for each individual folder, one by one.
Don’t know if an entire PC can be done this way, i.e. including all the folders, sub folders and files, or an entire partition?
If the list of sharable File/folder contains in a single drive, then granting permission for that single drive can make all the internal File/Folder read and writeable for the other network computer.
step 2 helped me out.. good to know there are some honest indians out there.. but in all seriousness your government should take care of the scammers before the country’s image is forever tarnished
Step 2 helped me.Thanks for that! I just want to ask, for security purposes, instead of “Everyone”, would it be possible to add just a particular PC or Laptop? Again, thank you so much.
Yes, you can.
hooraaahhh
Fantastic! This works! My problems were the regedit which I thought would never be problematic.
Thank you so much! I tried so many other things before finding this page. Worked great! You are appreciated!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I have been trying all day to fix this problem and your solution(s) finally resolved it. My issue was fixed after carrying out all the solutions 1-4. Solution 4 eventually worked.
Thank you for helping me
The regedit part is what did it for me. Worked for Windows Server. No reboot even necessary. Thanks for the helpful post.
Thank you. Solution #2 worked for me.
Thanks a lot solution 2 worked.
also i have another issue, i have connected two PC directly with a cable and i can veiw and transfer files but only when my internet connection through mobile hotspot is turned on.
when i switch off the internet the other PC is lost from network. Do you have any idea?
Madhur… Well done, clear and concise explanation that actually worked for me. I had this problem on my home network and with several of my IT customers with small to mid-sized peer-peer networks & sharing. Been working on and/or looking for a solution to the problem on the web for almost a month with no luck. Following every step of your explanation, found some incorrect settings, fixed them and I’m up and running. Well Done!!
Thanks, man.
Thanks. Also, since I’m connecting with a mac, I enabled SMB features in Programs & Features > Turn Windows features on or off > “SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support
thanks
I did solution 2 step 3 to allow access to everyone in the security tab.
now I can access the files on another computer.
my situation is:
1. in my workplace have 1 win10 pc, 2 win7 pc, and my boss just buy 1 more NEW pc with win7 inside.
2. the old 3 pc has share network monthly,
my problem is:
1. I can’t access the win10 pc with my newest pc, but the win10 pc have access into my new one.
2. other 2 win7 pc can access my new pc and otherwise.
my question is:
how can I connect all pc in my workplace?
You can try to re-design the network again.
https://www.deskdecode.com/how-to-setup-two-computers-via-lan-in-windows-7-for-sharing/
It worked, I’m sending the <3
😉
Didn’t work.You know what is the problem with you computer ‘experts’? You make these complicated tutorials with many steps and the result is is just the same as is before! In other words, FAIL.
What a waste of time and effort. As Einstein once said, things should be as simple as possible but not any simpler.
Thanks a lot but still not working on my end. I’m using windows server to make a file sharing to specific domain account.
still not able to access my network files
my pc is on same workgroup, but only in one pc i am unable to see any shared network folder,the network section is all empty,ple help me out
I have tried all of the above.
I still have I this issue with computer 3
I have 3 computers networked together comp 1 sees and access all, comp 2 sees and access all, comp 3 can see all can access comp 2 but not comp 1
help please
Hi , I need some helps. I have shared my co-worker computer so I can access his files and help each other. Last Friday everything okay. But on Monday, when we back to work, suddenly I cannot access my co-worker computer. I have tried to ping, it looks like no issue. The computer name actually show up on the Network, but when I click, then it error. Even the public folder cannot see.
Please help me.
Thank you worked for me and much better than the MS Help pages
Nothing on this page worked for me. I eventually found the comment below on another page and it worked:
I came right using regedit. Locate: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters and make sure “AllowInsecureGuestAuth” value is set to 1
I just want to let you know how much this has helped me. I was running into issues at my company where certain users could not run installer from shared folder for certain application updates…..and I had a few users who were experiencing runtime errors from applications that run via shared folder path to server.
This solved all of my issues and I now keep this page on my bookmarks bar. I can not tell you how much I appreciate you.
Thank you
Excellent…..you saved me, thank you so much
Well done. Very simple and easy to understand 👍
Muchas Gracias, Thank you Very Much!
Why do they make this stuff so non-intuitive?? Your instructions got me through it. Thanks!
You’re absolutely terrific! the regedit did the trick, still working in 2021! GREAT! THANKS!
it has worked for me thank you
i am glad i did not have to type this up
After 2 years of having my network drive (WD MyBookLive) keep going off line, using solution #3 I have now had 2 weeks without that happening. Many thanks for your solutions, much appreciated!
it worked ..thank you …error was rectified at. 4# Solution – Corrupted Windows Registry