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Troubleshooting Shared Folders

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

What problem are you having?

  • I cannot access shared folders.

  • I cannot view shared folder information in Shared Folders.

  • I cannot view a folder in a shared folder on which Access-based Enumeration is enabled.

I cannot access shared folders.

  • Cause: The network connection was lost.

  • Solution: Verify network settings. Check your connection to other resources on the network, such as internal Web sites.

  • Cause: Share permissions or file system permissions prevent access.

  • Solution: Verify that the share permissions and file system permissions on the computer to which you are connecting allow you or your group access to the shared folder.

    If you can access Shared Folders on the remote computer, check the Sessions folder to determine the user rights with which you are logged on to the remote computer.

    Check the Share Permissions that are set for the Everyone group. If there is a check mark in the Deny column, no one will be able to access the shared folder, even if Full Control permissions are granted to the Administrators group. Remove the check mark and grant Full Control to appropriate users and groups.

I cannot view shared folder information in Shared Folders.

  • Cause: You are not logged on to the specified computer as a member of the Administrators group, Server Operators group, or a group that has the appropriate user rights.

  • Solution: Ensure that you are a member of a group (such as the Administrators group) with the appropriate user rights before connecting to the shared folder.

I cannot view a folder in a shared folder on which Access-based Enumeration is enabled.

  • Cause: The user does not have the Read permission to the folder in a shared folder on which Access-based Enumeration (ABE) is enabled, or the Special permissions have been modified. ABE hides folders or other shared resources that the user does not have rights to access.

  • Solution: Check that the user has Read permission on the appropriate folder, and that the user has the following Special permissions in the Advanced Security Settings dialog box:

    • List folder / read data

    • Read attributes

    • Read extended attributes

    • Read permissions

    For more information about Access-based Enumeration, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=88961.