Cannot Connect to Windows NT Server with Many Shares

Last reviewed: December 4, 1997
Article ID: Q160807

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 95
Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release versions 2, 2.1

SYMPTOMS

You may experience problems connecting to a share on a Windows NT server from a Windows 95 workstation if the Windows NT server has a large number of shares.

Specific symptoms may include:

When you attempt to make a UNC (Universal Naming Convention) connection to the share, the following error message may be displayed:
```
      The folder "\\<server>\<share>" does not exist.
```
In Microsoft Word version 7.0 for Windows 95, when you change the default document location to a folder on the server, the File Open operation does not work. The current folder reverts to the desktop or the root folder of drive C. This may occur whether the share on the server is accessed using a mapped drive letter or a UNC connection.

- While using shortcuts you cannot get to lower level directories on the

  Windows NT server. If you double click the shortcut - it connects to the
  servers share and displays folders, but when you double click the lower
  level folder all it does is refresh the upper level share points
  directories thus creating a shortcut loop.

CAUSE

In some scenarios, Windows 95 determines whether a share exists on an SMB server by getting the list of shares from the server, then searching for the specified share name in the data returned. The SMB protocol used to get the list of shares is limited to a total data size of 64K. If the list of shares is too large, not all names fit within the 64K data block. If the specified share is not included in the partial list returned, the operation does not work.

RESOLUTION

To work around this issue, use one or more of the following methods:

Reduce the number of shares on the Windows NT server.
Reduce the length of the share names on the server.
Reduce the length of the comments on the shares.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Windows 95. A fix to this problem is in development, but has not been regression tested and may be destabilizing in production environments. Microsoft does not recommend implementing this fix at this time. Contact Microsoft Technical Support for more information on the availability of this fix.

MORE INFORMATION

This symptom is typically encountered if the number of shares on the Windows NT server exceeds 1,000 shares, or if the shares generally have long comment strings.

For additional information about related issues, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q160808
   TITLE     : Profiles and Briefcase May Not Work with Windows NT Server

Additional query words: 95 winnt refresh 1000 shares network path not
found error 53
Keywords : osr2 win95 kberrmsg kbnetwork kbfixlist
Version : 95
Platform : WINDOWS

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Last reviewed: December 4, 1997
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