WHS Intermittently cannot connect to shared drives

[wayner]

I have been having some issues with my SageTV server recently. My server runs WHS and at times I can't seem to connect to the network shares from some of my PCs. I think this also causes problems on my Sage extenders as they seem to take a long time or timeout when trying to play files or browse folders.

It seems like I am not unique as this thread (http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/e...8-1aae18d32de3) on the WHS forum has similar input from many people with the same problem.

Have any other Sage users observed this issue?

[bhyman1]

Try setting your WHS to a static IP address.

Sometimes when it goes through the DHCP renew process it'll bug out for a second and cause the issue you describe.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by bhyman1

Try setting your WHS to a static IP address.

Been there done that - this is pretty much the first thing I do after installing the OS on a PC. And this is pretty much required when you are port forwarding through your router.

[KarylFStein]

I haven't seen this. Did you check Event Viewer (client and server) to see if there are any clues there? If not, maybe check your router logs?

My main annoyance is that if I don't use the "Shared Folders" link to access WHS shares from a Win7 box, then it takes upwards of 30 seconds for the server to appear as a "network place". XP is instant. Haven't really dug into that one, though.

[gplasky]

If your PCs are WIn 7 make sure you have network discovery turned on for them. By default it is off. Make sure you have chosen you are on your home network. If you have the same user account and passwords on all of your PCs let Windows manage the Homegroup connections. (I know WHS doesn't have Homegroups but this seems to help) All of these settings are in the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network and Sharing Center\Advanced sharing settings.

Gerry

[wayner]

Thanks for the suggestions Gerry - all three of my Win7 PCs have Network Discovery turned on. All users have the same user with the same password. Note that this problem seems to occur not just on PCs as the HD-200s seem to have problems accessing the shared volumes at times.

FYI - one of my PCs has had issues with Homegroup - I have never been able to really use Homegroups but that doesn't matter to me since I store all of my media files on the WHS server and I map the media shares to the same drive on all PCs - for example z: is mapped to \\server\videos on all PCs, y: is mapped to \\server\music, etc.

[gplasky]

For the HD20s I think I enabled the guest account on WHS and made sure that account had permissions. I also installed the WHS connector software on all the PCs so I don't have to map any drives amywhere. The "Shared Folders on Server" icon gives the PCs access to those shares automatically. Homegroups recognize the the WHS shares as Libraries on the Win 7 PCs.

Gerry