Tried using the IP rather than assbox?

What make is your nas? Did you check the mfg's (or other) forums to see if it's maybe a firmware issue?

The NAS works fine; it's a Windows issue.

Same error with IP address.

Though the error dialog does come up straight away with the IP - using the hostname it takes a while (though it's in my hosts file so not sure why there'd be a difference).

I was gonna suggest DNS 'til I got to that bit. :(

What are the permissions on the share? I'm not very good with Linux, but does it have an ACL you can tweak?

The permissions on the share are the same as they were before, because the problem is not with the NAS, it's something on the Windows side.

Gotcha - misread the bit up there. Hmmm, any recent Windows updates?

Is Windows Network Discovery on?

Ok, so I have an actual error message now

C:\Users\Peter>net view \\169.254.184.206
System error 53 has occurred.

The network path was not found.

Again, I can ping the machine:

C:\Users\Peter>ping 169.254.184.206

Pinging 169.254.184.206 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 169.254.184.206: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 169.254.184.206: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 169.254.184.206: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 169.254.184.206: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 169.254.184.206:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

Searching for "System error 53 has occurred" leads to this page which lists the following:

1) if it is domain environment, check your WINS;
2) if it is peer-to-peer workgroup, enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP;
3) make sure the machine is running;
4) make sure file and Printer Share enabled on remote computer;
5) make sure client for ms networks is enabled on local computer;
6) make sure you type the correct name.
7) Make sure no firewall running or any security setting.

1 doesn't apply, 2 didn't work, 5 is enabled, toggling firewall made no difference.

I'm currently thinking it's got to be something in Local Area Connection Properties and/or TCP/IPv4 properties - something I inadvertently changed and whatever configuration I try I can't find the magic values that it had before. :(

<replied to the wrong thread>

If you've altered something in the IPv4 settings can you show us the output of an ipconfig/all
 

Nope, no recent Windows Updates applied.

Network discovery is on.

There's a whole bunch of tunnel adapter bollocks included, which is in the attached file in case it's relevant, along with the wireless adapter output, which is using 192.168.43.x and shouldn't be affecting things?

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Storm
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : 
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

[snip]

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-90-F5-9B-5A-57
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.184.205(Preferred) 
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled
   
[snip]

I setup a WebDAV share and can access that from Windows, though it needs to be mapped to a drive letter and seems ridiculously slow - simply opening a text file can take a couple of seconds. :/

Accessing NFS shares on Windows seems like a minefield, and there's an iSCSI option but that seems to have so much configuration... :&

So if I can't figure out WTF is stopping CIFS connecting then that leaves me with FTP. :'(

Have you tried accessing it from a different Windows pc?

I was accessing it from this Windows PC one a month ago, and it was working perfectly.

Regrettably I don't know of any protocols that possess the appropriate temporal aspect to let me record all the settings and changes made before things got screwed up.

You've got an apipa on the Ethernet connection and a class b subnet, I take it you're using the wireless to connect from the windows machine to the network, it shouldn't make a difference but have you tried disabling the Ethernet adapter?

Nope, the wireless connection goes to the Internet.

The NAS is connected via Ethernet to the same switch as the Windows machine. (The NAS doesn't connect to wifi.)

Can you restore from backup to when it was working?

Only if you can supply me with a time machine so I can go back and create a restore point...

Turned off system restore?

Definitely don't have access to another windows system just to try?

Pretty sure Ant can build you one with a rasberry pi.