Member Avatar for wbrownrigg

We run a VPN network, we just purchased new Acer/Aspire towers w/Vista installed. We can see our network server but cannot map a drive to a network address on the server. We have no problem doing this with our XP machines.

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Vista clients that "see" the server but fail to map a share and return a credential error (the "Login Unsuccessful" note reported by ) almost always point to an authentication or client-side blocking issue rather than pure connectivity. The existing replies from , and highlight the right areas to check — credentials format, VPN/NAT complications, and third-party security — but the troubleshooting below gives a practical, ordered way to isolate and fix the problem.

  1. Clear credential/session conflicts. Windows will refuse a new connection to the same server if another connection already exists under different credentials. On the Vista client remove any stored credentials and existing SMB sessions, then retry mapping using the explicit credential format the server expects (domain\user, servername\user, or user@domain).
  2. Test name resolution and direct SMB reachability by mapping with the server IP (\192.168.x.x\share) to rule out DNS/WINS issues.
  3. Check the client NIC properties: ensure "Client for Microsoft Networks" is enabled and that File and Printer Sharing is allowed. Temporarily disable Norton/third-party firewalls to confirm they are not blocking SMB.
  4. If the server is older (Samba, XP-era), confirm the authentication protocol (LM/NTLM/NTLMv2) the server accepts and match the Vista client policy or update the server to accept NTLMv2. Lowering LAN Manager authentication on the client can help diagnosis but is a security risk — revert any policy changes after testing.
  5. Inspect the server Security log for failed logon events (failed logon event details will show the failure reason/substatus), which gives the most direct clue about why authentication was refused.

Quick commands to view and clear sessions on the Vista client:

net use
net use * /delete

Notes tied to earlier posts: was right to consider authentication requirements and VPN/NAT factors; VPN/router NAT can complicate name resolution and routing, so test while directly connected to the LAN if possible. was correct to suspect Norton — many AV suites block SMB ports by default. Follow the steps above in order: credential/session cleanup, name/IP test, firewall/AV test, and finally authentication policy checks and server-side logs.

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Member Avatar for freshfitz

whats the error you get

Member Avatar for kaninelupus

May sound like a silly question, but is the network you're tying to hook into password protected?? Vista won't allow you to connect to a network or networked PC that isn't PW protected, just as a safety measure.

Also, if you are using a NAT device, you're going to likely have to ditch it to use Vista on a VPN network.

Read info here for more info

Member Avatar for wbrownrigg

whats the error you get

The message "Login Unsuccesssful" comes back. This is after I enter the user name, server name and location and hit finish, at which point the server comes back and asks me for the usr name and pw as it should.

Member Avatar for garywallace

Well it seems that you have a norton problem/user right problem. You should first go into norton and set your security rights to allow access. Then you simply ensure that your account has access rights or adminstration rights to access the drive. Right click and log on using an administer accounts. This should solve your problem.

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