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We're having an intermittent problem with our fileserver. It's using Windows Server 2003. Every now and then, when attempting to access it (ie. \servername), it brings up a login dialog box. No matter what username and password is used, though, it just gives us:

"Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again."

I remote into the server in question, just to make sure I don't have anything open, and I don't see any sessions under my username in Computer Management.

The interesting part, though, is that if I access it via it's IP (\IP address), it works just fine. This leads me to believe it's a DNS issue of some sort, but I've double-checked and triple-checked those settings, and I can't find a single thing wrong with it. I can ping it via it's UNC name, nslookup, tracert, everything works. So I'm not sure what's going on.

I even used Wireshark to see what differences there were, but didn't come up with much, beyond an SMB Trans2 Response, GET_DFS_REFERRAL, Error: STATUS_NO_SUCH_DEVICE when accessing it via UNC.

I'm not sure what else to look for, or where to look. Googling the error doesn't really seem to bring up much in relevance. Any tips on what to do?

mfinni
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Frank Bueckert
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  • Have you got any processes running on the host that is making the request that might try to connect (even briefly) to the target system using any other credentials? I see this often when I make administrative connections in a cmd session with an admin account, forget to clean it up and then try to connect as my normal user later. Generally killing all of the other user processes fixes my problems though. – Helvick Nov 15 '10 at 20:05
  • I'm definitely not leaving any other processes open; when I used Wireshark, nothing showed up until I tried to access the fileserver. Also, this isn't limited to a single computer accessing the server; it seems like every computer has this problem. – Frank Bueckert Nov 15 '10 at 21:19
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    You don't mention what client you are using...? Is it a "plain" file share, or is it part of a DFS structure (and if so, a standalone root or domain root)? – Simon Catlin Nov 15 '10 at 22:08
  • The client doesn't seem to matter; we use both Windows 2000 and XP, and both of them will have this problem. The fileserver is part of our new domain, while the people accessing it are still logging in via our old domain. We're currently running both, and a two-way trust has been established. The fileserver does have DFS installed, but it's not being used very much at the moment. – Frank Bueckert Nov 16 '10 at 15:41
  • from your client device what happens when you run "net use" – tony roth Apr 01 '11 at 05:00

1 Answers1

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It is likely a client issue. Do you have any anonymous access (shares, printers, etc.) on the server? Connecting via the IP address looks like a different server to the client. The Windows client will only allow use of one set of credentials to access a server.

Drive mounts which can be accessed anonymously can be a problem. It your passwords aren't synchronized with the server, you may get anonymous mounts, then you can't get mount any secured drives until you log out, disconnect the anonymous mounts, or use a different server id for the secured drives.

BillThor
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