My Network Places - Not responding

[Silver Fox]

When double click on client PC icon in 'My Network Places' the screen freezes
and I get 'Not responding'. I used to be able to get access, but suddenly I
get this message. My Operating system is XP with SP3. Anybody got any ideas?

 

[Malke]

When double click on client PC icon in 'My Network Places' the screen
freezes and I get 'Not responding'. I used to be able to get access, but
suddenly I get this message. My Operating system is XP with SP3. Anybody
got any ideas?

My Network Places tends to be problematic. Try connecting to
\\computername\share instead. I also like to use Search>computers on the
network. When the remote computer comes up, double-click on it to get its
shares. Then right-click/drag to your desktop to make a shortcut to the
share(s) instead of using My Network Places.

As for why this no longer works, I can't guess because you haven't told us
anything about the computers or network involved.

The First Question Of Troubleshooting: If the problem is new, what changed
between the time things worked and the time they didn't?

Malke

 

[Silver Fox]

Thanks for your reply.
I do not know what I did to cause the problem. I was looking in the picture
folder of the client PC when the screen froze and I got the error message "My
Network Places - Not Responding". I did note that 'My Network Places' became
unpinned in the Start panel - I did not do this. When in My Network Places I
cannot even 'View Workgroup Computers". Sometimes I get an error message
stating that I have not got access to the Workgroup. It has been working fine
up to yesterday. The Operating system on the client PC is Vista and I can
still carry out network tasks from this PC, for example Print on Network
printer (attached to host) and access shared folder.

 

[Malke]

Thanks for your reply.
I do not know what I did to cause the problem. I was looking in the
picture folder of the client PC when the screen froze and I got the error
message "My Network Places - Not Responding". I did note that 'My Network
Places' became unpinned in the Start panel - I did not do this. When in My
Network Places I cannot even 'View Workgroup Computers". Sometimes I get
an error message stating that I have not got access to the Workgroup. It
has been working fine up to yesterday. The Operating system on the client
PC is Vista and I can still carry out network tasks from this PC, for
example Print on Network printer (attached to host) and access shared
folder.

Possibly a problem with the physical hardware on the network? The NIC on
your machine, the cable, the port?

Or try a System Restore to a time when things worked.

Malke

 

[AB]

I had a similar thing happen to me though I don't remember anything
freezing. And it happened on every computer in my network, not just the one
I might have been using at the time.

Have you tried to create a new workgroup and see if it works?

I did that and now see 2 workgroups listed in "/my network places/entire
network/microsoft windows network/." When I try to view or use the old group
in network places I get an error about it not being accessible and no
permission, etc. I can still use shortcuts like "\\(computer
name)\foldername" to access the other computers but can't use my network
places. It is annoying to see the extra group listed in Explorer but I'll
live with it.

So it seems to me, as inexperienced as I am, that something has locked or
corrupted the old workgroup in some way but the new one is fine and the
links to shared folders, new or old, are fine too. Creating the 2nd group
solved my problem though I had to do it on every computer in the network if
I want to use my network places to access them. Saving shortcuts like
"\\(computer name)\foldername" would save you the trouble of changing every
computer.