Windows 7 Networking Woes

[ratdude747]

Preface: I'm posting it here since it seems to be more of a software issue than a networking hardware issue. Also, a rant to start:

Right now I'm in windows 7 repair hell with my wife's laptop... It still has the crappy stock dell image of 7 home premium... which I cannot reimage because she "HAS" to have microshaft office 2007 which was either pre-installed or more likely installed by her dad... I use libreoffice, so I don't have a copy of such.

Anyway, I've mostly fixed the POS, a beat to hell lame ass inspiron with an i3 and 3GB of RAM... I'd like to shelf the turd and give her my ASUS x83v + a new battery (which is one generation older but tons faster) but noooo I can't do that.

Anyway, now that I've cleaned five tons of horseshit off it (malware and the like), I've almost gotten it to the point of running OK (given the meager hardware) but there is one issue that I can't seem to nail down. For some reason I can't get it to see anything on the network other than itself and one of my workstations; I'd like to map the shared folder on the home file server to a network drive and then access a printer connected to the server like I've done on everything else in the house.

I've disabled homegroup, re-enabled network discovery, correctly set the workgroup (which isn't "WORKGROUP" or "MSHOME")... but all it sees is itself and a workstation on the network. Manually using the "//address" trick in the address bar didn't work either.

I'm sure it's the laptop and not the server, as every other unit in the house seems to talk to the server just fine.

Suggestions (I repeat, she won't let me re-install windows or replace the turd)?

[SteveNielsen]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

Sounds like messed up network protocols to me. Perhaps malware caused. Check the status of installed protocols for Windows Networking and uninstall/reinstall.

Also Windows File Sharing.

[goontron]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

use jellybean to get the 2007 key then wipe and reinstall.

I know how you feel on the network drive mount part of it..... i wasnt aware that "smbmount" was deprecated by "mount.cifs". i just learned that. my reaction was: "really!!! now i have to go relearn the syntax and how to debug the goddamned thing?!?!? for fuck sakes!"

[Mad_Professor]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

Firewall?

check services.msc for Server, Workstation, TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, and Background Intelligent Transfer Service are started and running.

Also it's backslash not forward slash. \\fileserver

It's not wise to map a drive with all this ransom-ware running around.

[ddscentral]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

I usually don't bother cleaning messed up Windows installations and just reinstall instead.

Malware and Junkware can mess up the system badly and sometimes cleaning existing Windows installation may be next to impossible or too time consuming.

[seanc]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

Open an admin command prompt and reset the network stacks with the following 2 commands:

netsh int ip reset

netsh winsock reset (I think) might need to be:
netsh winsock reset resetlog.txt

Check what Madprofessor says.
He's right, it is backward slash, try and map using IP address.
Use the map network drive option in Computer and specify the right credentials too.
Has she had any Blackberry software installed?

[stj]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

care to expand on the "Blackberry" bit?

[diif]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

I'd take the i3 over the Asus. Buy her an SSD if you want to speed the thing up.

Have you run sfc /scannow from an elevated command prompt ?
Clearing malware is easy it's repairing the damage they do that is tricky.

[ratdude747]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

First, the whole reason I CAN'T reinstall windows is the f*cking MS office install she HAS to have. Otherwise, I'd wipe it and be done. It already has SLIC for 7 so I'd just throw on ultimate. But NOOO that won't work... she's addicted to sucking bill gates soft(ware) dick when it comes to word processing.

SSDs are presently out of budget, at least in the size needed for her ripped movie collection she also "MUST" have. The POS has an i3 and only 3gb of ram (IIRC running 64 bit 7 home premium.

I'll look into it more. Agreed that the services could be fucked. For some reason I remember home premium giving hell about this in the past (I generally use 7 ultimate + SLIC mod or use one of my 3 upgrade keys).

MP- I've been mapping network drives for years at the house (me + my parents) and never had an issue... the wifi is WPA2 protected so that shouldn't be an issue.

[Sweet & Spicy]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

(this is ratdude posting from her account, as I didn't want to dick up her chrome settings and am too lazy to add another account on this POS laptop or grab another laptop)

Now it is seeing another desktop too... but still no server. I tried the backslashes, no bueno. I can however talk to the server via PuTTY without issues.

I tried to uninstall and reinstall the windows networking client... but when I went to re-install, all the clients and services (and all but one of the protocols) are GONE from the install menu (only option is the "have disk" button). WTF?

I wanna baseball bat this POS so bad right now... the joys of married life...

[SteveNielsen]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

Understood. So what is needed is to repair the existing Windows installation. Period. It is very tedious but it is within the realm of possibilities. You have to somehow find and replace corrupted system files. You have to find and remove all registry keys referencing malware associated files and processes.

Look into HijackThis
http://sourceforge.net/projects/hjt/

Doing the sfc /scannow is good idea too, but it often won't catch everything.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

You may be required to reinstall Service Pack 1 and all Windows hotfixes!

If you replace files the crude way.

If any files are replaced with pre-SP files, definitely required to reinstall SP1!

[goontron]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

why not grab the office key with a keyfinder then wipe, reinstall, and reinstall office?

[ratdude747]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

^I may look into that...

[stj]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

does office run in wine?

[goontron]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

does office run in wine?

2k7 yes, 2k10, partly.

[Topcat]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

I usually don't bother cleaning messed up Windows installations and just reinstall instead.

Malware and Junkware can mess up the system badly and sometimes cleaning existing Windows installation may be next to impossible or too time consuming.

This. I refuse to remove shitware (malware, spyware, junkware, etcware)....if someone wants a machine cleaned off, it gets wiped.

[diif]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

It depends on the malware ad to whether I wipe or clean machines. A Samsung Evo 128Gb or even 240GB is not that expensive. Put the hardruve in an external caddy for the films
magic Jellybean will recover the key for Windows and Office.
You could reinstall Windows and Office and check everything works. The HDD in the caddy can then have everything wiped apart from the films.

8GB of DDR3 and an ssd. That laptop will fly, its the malware that's making it slow.

[seanc]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

care to expand on the "Blackberry" bit?

I have a particular set of users give me laptops which are able to do everything except map network drives or connect to windows server resources. No malware at play.

I've not been able to work out what it is that they install to break them, but I know they often load Blackberry software, so I'm just trying to work out a link

I tend to notice Netbios over TCP/IP being disabled.
RD if you do an ipconfig /all, what's the status of Netbios over TCP/IP?

[stj]

Re: Windows 7 Networking Woes

the blackberry desktop thing is huge and tries to integrate the fone with the desktop.
maybe it inserts some type of hook to re-route the drive mapping through the usb.