I was on of my machines and I clearly was on the network because I could ping and access the web but I was not able to connect to any local shares. That is one problem, I figured it was simply a corrupt MS Client Network file. But I when I looked at Network adapters the screen was blank.
First I thought it may be a patching issue so I patched my machine. Still same problem.
Then I thought maybe it was some malware, I installed malware bytes and it came out clean.
Then I thought maybe a corrupt file, so I ran sfc /scannow and it came out clean.
Next I googled and came across this interesting link
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/cant-access-any-shared-folder-on-the-network-from/dae41d6f-23c8-43e3-9e8b-ea8fa1fc1447?auth=1
The relevant portion was
I struggled with this one for a few days, but I believe I have a solution that may work for others. I realize this is an old thread, but it does come up near the top on Google. Here’s my solution:
I suspected the problem had to do with corruption or misconfiguration with the “Client for Microsoft Networks” (Workstation Service) and “File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks” (Server Service) add-ons to the Windows network stack. You see these items in the advanced configuration of your network adapters.
What I did was uninstall both protocols and reboot. After the reboot, I opened an elevated command prompt (Run as Administrator) and ran the following commands:
netcfg /c c /i ms_msclient
netcfg /c s /i ms_server
The first command reinstalls the “Client for Microsoft Networks” piece and the second the “File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks” piece. After rebooting, I rejoined the HomeGroup and was able to browse and write to my file shares.
Hope this helps!
I couldn’t get to the GUI to uninstall the client, but then game across this page
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/scriptcenter/en-US/b84c8e31-ab33-4c6c-bb2b-dbe43228994a/client-for-microsoft-networks?forum=ITCG
It gave a CLI way to uninstall
Anyway I have a fix for doing this which I worked out in combination with a genius!
netcfg /u ms_msclient shutdown -r netcfg /c c /i ms_msclient shutdown -r
Added as individiul commands in the task sequence in MDT these remove the “Client for Microsft Networks” reboot and put it back again.
Printers install, problem solved!
Thanks for your help.
Still didn’t help
I finally found this piece/clue to help me out
http://www.askvg.com/fix-network-connections-folder-is-empty-in-windows-not-showing-network-adapters-list/
The trick was to delete an entry in the registry and let it recreate
1. Type regedit in RUN or Start search box and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network
3. In right-side pane, you’ll see a binary key “Config“. Select it and press Delete key on your keyboard. You just need to delete Config key.
That could me the GUI, I could add the MS Client and File sharing and it worked.
Final Notes
Taxes done, meetup tonight, no real workout though.
Slept well with CPAP.
Tomorrow on it will be a focus on Linuxfest next week.