Vista NAS Issue - FAT32 Network Drives

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As most are aware, Vista has its share of networking issues, NAS access being
one of them. I have a Coolmax CN-550 NAS. I can access the shares on my NAS
if I use the common work around for the protocol utilized by Vista to access
a NAS, but even after applying that work around, attempting to access a
subfolder on a share will cause Windows Explorer in Vista to freeze, and the
only way you can get Windows Explorer to work right again is to reboot Vista.
Windows Explorer may 'look' like its recovered sometimes, but it hasn't and
network access will not be working correctly. According to Coolmax's tech
support, this problem exists with access to any NAS device that utilizes
FAT32 as its file format. They say that other NAS manufacturer's are
reporting the same issue with FAT32 formatted NAS devices. And as I've seen
no one find a solution to this issue, including Microsoft, I'm inclined to
believe Coolmax.

So, if this is your problem, all you can do is wait for Vista to fix the
issue, which sadly they seem in no hurry to address - if they ever will
address it.
 
On a NAS the file system is irrelevant to the clients other than the maximum
file size and things like file name length. The NAS is accessing the file
system. Vista is accessing the NAS. I think they are trying to wish the
problem away instead of fixing it. Have you tried turning off the receive
window auto-tuning in Vista?
 
Thanks for the response. I will certainly try your advice. I'll try anything
at this point :>)

I doubt the issue is NAS inability to access the file structure. The NAS
works fine on Windows XP. And my wireless network devices are Vista
Qualified. Actually, on occassion the NAS actually will go down into
subfolders on a share. But when it does, it will only last until one goes
back up the share directory tree, when Windows Explorer freezes.

I also note that sometimes Windows Vista won't allow me to even access the
NAS administration through my browser - can't get past the login on the NAS.
I can still access the NAS from a Windows XP machine when this happens.

Given all that I've experienced to date, and the fact that the NAS works
fine on WIndows XP, this seems an issue of Windows Vista's re-written TCP/IP
stack and network access code altering net access in some manner that is not
in conformance with NAS standards as implemented on many NAS boxes currently
in existence.
 
Most NAS devices use samba for file sharing. There are known problems with
older versions of samba and Vista. If the manufacturer of the NAS releases a
firmware update with a newer version of samba it should work. In the
meantime there are a few workarounds such as lowering the authentication
level for Vista, turning off the receive window auto-tuning in Vista, and
disabling uPnP on the NAS if it supports it. If none of those work and the
NAS manufacturer isn't interested in updating the firmware then the device
won't work with Vista. Vista is using newer standards for networking than
some older NAS devices.
 
I will try all these tricks, thank you :>) But to me it seems irrational that
the software OS shouldn't be compatible with an installed hardware base worth
millions of $ to the OS's users, especially when we're talking about a
technology that has been around/standard for years and is fully capable of
fulfilling the function for which it was designed. If this were a new
technology it might be understandable, but its not. I think MS' past success
has warped their ability to think rationally.
 
phillfri said:
I will try all these tricks, thank you :>) But to me it seems irrational
that
the software OS shouldn't be compatible with an installed hardware base
worth
millions of $ to the OS's users, especially when we're talking about a
technology that has been around/standard for years and is fully capable of
fulfilling the function for which it was designed. If this were a new
technology it might be understandable, but its not. I think MS' past
success
has warped their ability to think rationally.
Click to expand...


I don't totally disagree with you. I can see programming for the newest
standards. At the same time you should be able to fall back to the old
standards if needed.
 
So how does one turn off receive window auto tuning in vista then? I'm not
sure how to get there in Vista.

David
 
 
Hi David,
Open a Command Prompt and type 'netsh interface tcp show global' to see the
settings.
Try 'netsh interface tcp set global /?' to see the options.
Run cmd.exe as root, (elevated), and type 'netsh interface tcp set global
autotuning=disable'.

Paul
 
Welcome to the club. :-)

I have two NAS drives, a Metalgear 3207 and the Hawking HNAS1, neither work
properly with Vista.

The interesting thing is that I can actually use the Metalgear one with Vista if
I don't browse to it with Windows Explorer! I use an alternate explorer, the
2xExplorer, and it finds the drive and browses just fine. So, this is not just
a networking issue, but rather something in the middle of Windows that seems to
choke on some of these NAS products. The Hawking one will work if I map a
network drive, but I can't browse to it with either Windows Explorer or
2xExplorer, so it has a subtly different issue.

I'm very disappointed that Vista broke so much network equipment, and didn't
even provide an alternate configuration method to solve some of these issues.



Phill:

Although my Western Digital MyBook World Edition is formatted in NTFS I
and (many, many) other folks are experiencing the exact same trauma as
you are trying to access it, particularly with the new Vista Backup
program.

I have attempted most, but not all, of the fixes mentioned by Kerry,
but to no avail.

The "Receive Window Auto Tuning" thing is a new one on me, which I'm a
bit dubious about, but at this point I'll try anything.

The fact that no less than 5 of my clients, all with NAS drives which
worked flawlessly under XP Professional, now have the same nightmare to
deal with proves that something is Rotten in Denmark (or Redmond, as the
case may be).

I'm usually not a chronic complainer and I don't mind doing hours or
research on a problem with Vista if it eventually bears fruit, but in
this instance I (and seemingly everybody else) have simply hit a brick
wall, which means in this case the problem is definitely not "BTKATC"
(Between The Keyboard And The Chair).

Whether these drives run on Samba 1.0 or 3.0 Microsoft is obligated to
provide some sort of backward compatibility with them; expecting Western
Digital, Seagate, Buffalo, or Iomega to update the operating systems on
what was probably a fairly inexpensive drive to begin with is probably
not going to happen. The fact that they all worked just fine under XP
proves that it can't be too great a leap for MS to keep them in the
"technology loop" for Vista as well.

Accordingly I don't think it's too much to ask that some real, live
Microsoft employees "get with the program" and give us some much-needed
and well-deserved tech support; I mean, it's not like we haven't tried
to help ourselves at this point.

Well, here's hoping, anyway...
Click to expand...

John Will
Microsoft MVP - Networking
 
I have the same problem. does make Vista loo a bit silly really !
I've been through all the posts and seem MS does not really care about it
(they want us to by MS home server and bin our NAS boxes).

I'm very disapointed
 
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