Hey Everyone,
Really strange issue I am trying to troubleshoot. I am running Sonicwall Global VPN for our remote users and have been for about 3 years. Everything works just fine. I can access servers and file shares at all my locations.
Today randomly one of my workstations (win10) stopped being able to communicate with a file server (server2016) at a single location. Coincidentally the VPN runs through the firewall at the same location as the server. I can access shares at every location except this one. All my locations link up to this firewall via a site to stie VPN.
I can’t ping the file server by hostname or IP but I can ping other workstations on that subnet. And I can ping the troublesome workstation from the server.
So far I have tried all basic troubleshooting steps:
- Flush DNS and reboot
- Signed in with another user profile and same problem
- Enabled Network Discovery on all network profiles
- Reset Network Adapters
- Reinstall VPN
- Update Drivers
This issue is only happening on ONE computer. I cannot replicate the issue on any other device. I have been trying to get the user to test from a different internet connection but they won’t budge.
Also just had a similar issue. Not sure if related (They could see the server but didn’t have access permissions to share folders)
Warning: I wouldn’t have been able to do it without a local connection with the effected laptop. I assume they’ll be locked out if you delete their credentials and they don’t have access to the authentication server.
Went to Control Panel\User Accounts\Credential Manager
Deleted their domain credentials.
Tried to access server again, for some reason password not accepted. Reset their password, signed them out, logged them back in (using a local connection)
Unplugged them locally, connected them to an irrelevant wifi for testing, connected via vpn, they had access again.
I assume it’s solved but not 100% sure until they try it at home
This is where the advice came from
I’ve barely been doing this for a month so don’t take my word on anything.
so what actual error are you getting?
Couldn’t quite wrap my head around the setup yet, but so far I’d also recommend to do a traceroute from the client to the server.
Also, as I assume this is a win10 machine - there is now a network sniffer preinstalled on windows: pktmon. This would allow you to take a dump of the traffic and analyze in wireshark
Last but not least: Be advised that ping is a pretty sh**** test: there might be firewalls on different levels (network / host) interfering with it - something I also forget sometimes…
Is Offline Folder Sync enabled by chance?
Appreciate the response. I will give it a try.
Basic error message. Windows cannot access “servername”
Setup is pretty simple. A couple offices each with a server for authentication, scanning and other misc stuff. Each office has a site to site VPN configured to a firewall in a datacenter where our primary file server resides. Everything is on a single a domain.
Most likely just going to image the machine and see if that fixes it. Sometimes that’s the easiest path forward if its effecting a single computer.
Totally get what you mean with Ping being a shitty test.
It is and I tried disabling it. It did not help and now the user can’t access what’s on their desktop/documents because they are folder redirected. Haha…
Tried disabling it and it didn’t help. Should have included that in my troubleshooting steps.
Can you ping by fqdn? Can you verify SMB1 is enabled on the troubled machine? Also check that file and printer sharing is enabled and not turning itself back off as soon as you enable it and change screens.