Cannot see or browse QNAP in workgroup

[5av10ur]

Hi,

I have a QNAP TS-209 that I have had running on my network without problems a couple of years. I have two existing workstations (both XP Pro SP3) that can both see the NAS, access shares, and read and write without problems. I have got a new laptop (also XP Pro SP3) for my business and it is setup on a domain for when I'm at work. When I am at home I logon to domain.local and after much mucking about I can now see the other workstations at home by changing the workgroup name to domain on all workstations (NOTE: domain is not what the domain is, it is just an example name). The workgroup name has also been changed on the NAS and the existing workstations can still access shares (I even re-mapped the network drives to make sure they weren't just cached).

My problem is that although my laptop can access the workgroup, see the other workstations and browse their shares it cannot see the NAS. It doesn't matter whether I put in the server name or it's IP address or whether I try mapping a network drive through Windows Explorer or QNAP Finder it just cannot seem to find it. I can access the NAS through HTTP, FTP and QGET from the laptop but not through Windows Explorer and it's driving me mad. I am a pretty savvy guy with computers and have been playing with them for decades but this has got me stumped and I am running out of patience.

I know that there are many other threads on this forum about similar things but I think I have found them all and have tried all their suggestions. I don't think that there are any settings on the NAS GUI that will help so now I am thinking I'll have to telnet in but am not sure what commands would help. Any help anyone has would be most gratefully received.

Many thanks in advance,
Leo

[5av10ur]

Right, I have done some more digging and have found that I can connect and browse via Telnet/SSH but in a command shell the net view command does not see the NAS at all. There is blatantly a problem with my laptop but I cannot find the setting that means I can connect to local PC workstations but not the NAS. I have even tried to change some of the settings in the local security policy (such as LAN Manager authentication level). Nothing seems to make any difference. The only substantial difference between the laptop and my other workstations is that the laptop is logged on to a local domain rather than a workgroup but surely this shouldn't make a difference. I'm sure this must be something simple that I am missing but it has me foxed at the moment.

[petur]

browse to it by IP and if that works add it to \windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

dirty fix, I know

[5av10ur]

Cheers for the response Petur but I have tried this already. I just get an error message saying that \\192.168.2.8\ cannot be found. The really annoying thing is that I have recently re-installed Windows on a different workstation - Windows XP Pro SP3 the same as my laptop - and it found the Qnap and the shares immediately with no fuss (and even with the default Workgroup name rather than the actual one). Didn't even have to navigate to the Qnap, they just appeared in My Network Places. There is definitely a problem with a setting on my laptop stopping it from seeing any other workstations but I cannot figure out what it is. I have tried disabling the firewall and anti-virus, checking the local security policies, everything. This is driving me mad.

[petur]

Ah windows troubles. My previous PC had something like that too (just the other way around, I couldn't share any folders anymore). I fixed it by installing Ubuntu on my new PC...

[ecsuser]

Have a similar problem that suddenly emerged on 4 November after Windows XP prof applied some security patches. Shares work fine on 3 other systems (eCS, XP-Pro and Vista), and on same system with different user. One user suddenly lost access to files on QNAP, although it can open directories, and even can see thumbnails. Looks like it has to do with DFS (but I don't understand what is wrong so sudden).
Who can help?

[5av10ur]

The problem with discussing this on this forum is that it is a problem with Windows and not the QNAP, which appears to be a properly developed piece of kit and works pretty flawlessly when Windows isn't involved.

I'm pretty sure the problem with mine is a security policy setup by my network admin at work, but no-one appears able to identify which one it is. Oh well, onwards and upwards.

[petur]

The problem with discussing this on this forum is that it is a problem with Windows and not the QNAP, which appears to be a properly developed piece of kit and works pretty flawlessly when Windows isn't involved.

That is a very black/white statement. Compatibility issues can come from both sides, but dealing with Microsoft is probably pretty annoying. Good thing they have been forced now to open up more and more of their ** proprietary protocols so the rest of the world can become compatible. Although it looks like they're up to their same old tricks with windows 7.

I guess they really need to be fined out of business.