Network Name Found

[Guest]

Evertime I access a Windows XP Pro machine by \\computername\c$ I get the message "Network name cannot be found". However, this problem only exits after someone logs into the machine. If I reboot the machine and access it the same way before someone logs in, I am able to access it. Please help since we need to access the workstations frequently this way.

 

[Ovidiu Popa]

Accesing the XP administrative shares (as c$, d$, etc...) is not recommended
(for security reasons). Only a local or domain administrator can do that,
and I don't think it's a good ideea to grant administrative rights to all
your users.

This being said, check if you can ping the remote machine by computername;
failing to consistently respond denotes some network problem which should be
debugged before anything else. Repost with the results and your TCP/IP
configuration.

Ovidiu Popa
MVP

Evertime I access a Windows XP Pro machine by \\computername\c$ I get the

message "Network name cannot be found". However, this problem only exits
after someone logs into the machine. If I reboot the machine and access it
the same way before someone logs in, I am able to access it. Please help
since we need to access the workstations frequently this way.

 

[Chuck]

It isnt a network problem...I can ping the machines no problem. The problem only exists when a user logs in. Once they log in, I no longer can access that machine with the admin shares. Is there a feature on XP Pro that prevents more than one connection to it locally or remotely?

Bishop,

If you don't find a feature or setting that causes this, IMHO you need to
consider a spyware or viral infection as a possible cause. Some process,
started by a user logging in, may be causing the problem.

How current is your virus protection? Try one or more of these free online
virus scans, which should complement your current protection:
<http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php>
<http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan>
<http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/>
<http://security.symantec.com/ssc/home.asp>
<http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp>

Now check for, and learn to defend against, additional problems. Have you
downloaded these programs before? Download them again, as the latest version
may be needed to keep up with the current level of malware being attempted
constantly - get the absolutely most current version of each product listed.
They're all free - and most pretty small, so they download quickly enough.

Start by downloading each of the following free tools:
CWShredder <http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4086.html>
CoolWWWSearch.SmartSearch (v1/v2) MiniRemoval
<http://www.safer-networking.org/minifiles.html>
HijackThis <http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3155>
LSP-Fix and WinsockLSPFix <http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm>
Spybot S&D <http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download>

Create a separate folder for HijackThis, such as C:\HijackThis - copy the
downloaded file there. Spybot S&D has an install routine - run it. The other
downloaded programs can be copied into, and run from, any convenient folder.

Start by closing all Internet Explorer and Outlook windows, and running
CoolWebSearchSmartKiller, then CWShredder. Have the latter fix all.

Next, run Spybot S&D. First update it ("Search for updates"), then run a scan
("Check for problems"). Trust Spybot, and delete everything ("Fix Problems")
that is displayed in Red.

Then, run HijackThis ("Scan"). Do NOT make any changes immediately. Save the
HJT Log.
<http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?showtopic=227>

Finally, have your HJT log interpreted by experts at one or more of the
following forums (and post it, or a link to your forum post, here):
<http://forums.net-integration.net/>
<http://forums.spywareinfo.com/>
<http://spywarewarrior.com/index.php>
<http://forums.tomcoyote.org/>
<http://www.wilderssecurity.com/>

If removal of any spyware affects your ability to access the internet (some
spyware builds itself into the network software, and its removal may damage your
network), run LSP-Fix and / or WinsockXPFIx.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.