Cannot access Mapped Network Drive without rebooting Shared Computer

Question

On my main computer (Windows 10) at work I have two network drives, each mapped to a folder on a different machine (both Windows 11). The two machines also have a network drive mapped to each other (same folder).

One of the computers with the shared folder (let's call it the green computer for clarity) has no issues at all; as long as it's connected to the same network as my main computer, I can access the network drive. The other computer with the shared folder is not so lucky. At a certain point in time, the gray computer and its shared files become inaccessible to both my main computer and the green computer. The error message I get says "Microsoft Windows Network: The local device name is already in use. The connection has not been restored", but I believe sometimes it differs.

When I cannot access the gray computer's shared folder from the green and main computers, I can still access the green computer's shared folder from the gray computer; they are still connected to the same network. The gray computer will remain inaccessible over the network until it is rebooted. Once it is rebooted once or twice, everything works like it is supposed to. Sometimes this lasts a day, other times it may last a week until it becomes inaccessible again and requires a reboot.

I believe this has been happening to some extent since I got the computer. I do not know what causes it, but I think one time it may have happened when the network lost connection to the internet (I don't know if that should even affect shared network drives). Even after the internet connection was reestablished, I could not access the gray computer without rebooting it.

All three computers are on Wi-Fi, but the gray and green computers are within 3 feet of each other, so range should not be an issue. Both gray and green computers have the exact same sharing settings (network discovery and file sharing are turned on for public and private networks). If it is of significance, both of them have the network set to public, but the gray machine does not say "(current profile)" next to "Guest or Public" in Advanced Sharing Settings.

Again, rebooting the gray computer seems to solve the issue, but that can be inconvenient especially because the gray computer is a CNC controller and can only be rebooted at certain times throughout the day.

Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

Try this method may help you to resolve this problem.

1: MAP the drives with IP address not the hostname.

2: Disable the Windows firewall on sharing computer if possible.

3: Set the computer browser service on automatic on startup.

Reboot the system

If issue does not resolves then try this.

Press Windows + R, type “regedit” in the dialogue box, and press Enter.

Once in the registry editor, navigate to the following path:

*HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager*

Once in the correct location, search for the following key:

ProtectionMode

Now, change the key from 0 to 1. Save changes and exit. Restart your computer and see if the issue is resolved for good.