Windows crashed and won't allow me to access my network drives or show all the folders in This PC

Question

I have an MSI GS75 Stealth Laptop with Windows 11 Professional (all updates installed), 32GB of memory and an Intel i9 processor. Windows crashed and I had to let the battery run down to be able to reboot. When I did, it required me to enter my Bitlocker key to open Windows. When I got into Windows, File Explorer does not show all the folders it previously did- it only shows the desktop and the 4 mapped drives for my NAS devices. When I try to open one of these, Windows is asking me to enter my credentials to access any of them. I do not have any security credentials on any of them- I was previously able to just open any of them. I can access the NAS devices through my web browser by entering their IP address. I ran SFC which showed no problems. I restarted and again had to enter my Bitlocker Key to get into Windows, and nothing had changed. I did a complete shutdown, then rebooted, and was not required to enter the Bitlocker Key to get into Windows. I rebooted and tried to go into the recovery environment, which told me there was a device missing and would not allow me to enter the recovery environment.

I was using a slideshow for my desktop background, but Windows won't allow me to use it now because the folder with the pix for the slideshow is on one of the NAS servers.

How can I eliminate Windows insistence on security credentials, so I can access my NAS servers. This will probably solve most if not all of the problems.

Answer 1

Control Panel > User Accounts > Credential Manage > Check any saved credentials for your NAS. If, then remove it.

Reboot.

Try to access the NAS devices again through File Explorer

Answer 2

Hello,

 

Thank you for posting in Q&A forum.

To further troubleshoot this issue, please kindly follow below steps:

1.Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Status > Network and Sharing Center -> Change advanced sharing settings and check if Network discovery and File and printer sharing are turned on.

2.On the same page try to turn off Password protected sharing and check if it works.

3.Delete and re-map the network drives and see if it works.

4.Open Credential Manager and check if there are any saved credentials for NAS devices and remove them if necessary.

5.Reset the network settings and see if issue still persists.

 

I hope the information above is helpful.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know.

 

Best regards，

Jill Zhou

 

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