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.

However, I can still access the shared folder on the green computer 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. Sometimes it lasts a day, other times it may last a week until it becomes inaccessible again.

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

Hi

Welcome to Microsoft community.

The issues on Cannot access Mapped Network Drive without rebooting Shared Computer is out of reach of the response support community. It is more suitable for publishing on Microsoft Learn (English only). Here is a link to the forum, you can click on "Ask a question", there are experts who can provide more professional solutions in that place.

Best regards

Derrick Qian | Microsoft Community Support Specialist