The local device name is already in use...

Have a strange problem. I have a Windows 7 x64 machine which has several shares that are setup as network drives on the other computers, which are running Windows XP. The permissions and security settings on the shares are set to Everyone, so anyone and anything should be able to access the shares (not the wisest for security). The problem is intermittent and appears to occur more often when the Windows 7 machine runs for several days at a time, rebooting remedies the problem, just not for long.

The error message received on the Windows XP machines are:

An error occurred while reconnecting N: \\SERVER\Shared Docs\
The local device name is already in use. The connection has not been restored.

Here's the funny thing, there is no device using the same drive letter or share name. The only suspicion I have that might be related to the issue is that the Windows 7 machine is also running Hamachi, but that's just a hunch.

Are there any known issues with sharing from 64-bit Windows 7 to 32-bit Windows XP, or are there any guidelines to follow, any advice or ideas would just be awesome. At the point where hair pulling begins, but my hair is to short for that.

 

Have you found an answer to this issue?

I have a Windows 7 user who would prefer to have DHCP and I'm willing to try it but I've seen so many Windows 7 networking headaches.

Users can turn into whiny kids if they have to go back to a less convenient way of operating. It's always my fault if I can't find a way to make it work. Good thing they are good guys otherwise, otherwise I might bring them one of my kids sippy cups.

 

haven't found a solution other than rebooting the computer, seems to be running fie, just after a random amount of time (a few days to a few weeks) it just goes bananas. I'm not so sure if it is a DHCP issue, although it could be. I myself haven't had any problems networking Windows 7, just some oddities going back and fourth with Windows XP.

The only explanation I have found for this error is that a local device, such as a thumb drive or some other mountable storage device is using the same drive letter. Say if I had an external hard drive and I assigned it "Z" and then I tried to mount a network drive with "Z" as well would cause this condition, of course this isn't the case.

As far as DHCP goes it shouldn't be a problem, unless you need to have a computer keep the same address. In theory if the computer remains on and the DHCP lease expires, the computer should always keep the same address. Depending on the networking environment you're in you may be able to configure the DHCP server to use preferred addresses. Although if you're not able to do this (like if this is for a home network) it would be easier to simply manually assign the computer an IP address that is outside the scope of the DHCP (but in the same subnet). For instance most SoHo routers will use something like 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.50 for DHCP, so you could use 192.168.1.51 for manual assignments. However, you can't use something like 192.168.2.51 if your network's gateway is 192.168.1.1 and using a class C subnet (most are). Hope this helps you in your case.

 

I agree that in theory it shouldn't be a problem, but this is Windows we are talking about and it's know to be occasionally testy and buggy, especially a new OS. I'm by no means a Windows basher though, I have learned to live with it's imperfections and make it work for me.

I have 3 locations, 2 VPN's, 50+ workstations and 18 network printers. Everyone is static. At corporate I do have a small DHCP range on the Sonicwall Firewall for those of us who remote in on the Sonicwall VPN Client. I'm fine with letting one user use one of the IP's from that.

I'll just have to test my theory that Windows 7 is testy when using DHCP. Thanks for the insight.

 

The only bad experience I have had with DHCP is with wireless. Obviously you're in a more sophisticated enviroment, I'm sure you're not on a class C LOL

I have had a few folks who had tons of trouble way back when Vista came out. It turned out that his wireless router was incompatible with Vista, appeared to be an issue with the firmware on the router. He didn't bother investigating the problem, just bought a new router.

May possible want to check your nic driver, probably not the underlying problem, but might be a good place to start looking.