Networking: The network is not present or not started
PROBLEM
The network is not present or not started
At some point or other, and for reasons unknown to me at the current time, I couldn't get into shared files on other workstations on my home installation. This used to work earlier. Turned out after numerous trials and errors that the service Client for Microsoft Networks client service was not installed on my workstation.
SOLUTION
Before anything else, let's check the obvious points such as ensuring the network card is working fine and the network cable is plugged in securely. Over time, connections can get loose when least expected making you run around in circles when a simple network cable change can do.
Install the Client for Microsoft Networks client service:
- Start
- Settings
- Control Panel
- Networks and Dial-up Connections
- Local Area Connection
- Properties
- Install
- Client
Another source of this issue, as the error suggests, is that your services are not started up correctly. Check the network services (IE: All services that start with Network) in Services manager:
- Start
- Settings
- Control Panel
- Administrative Tools
- Services
Or click Start -> Run… then type services.msc in the text area, click Ok to start the Services dialog. You may likely note various combination of Network services started and others not started. Try to start each individually then test to see if browsing your resources now works and the above error disappears. If the previous one you started earlier doesn't work, disable it before enabling a following one. Another possibility is that the Workstation service has not been started up. Ensure this is started up and try to browse the network again.
Possibly the issues may be related to the MTU settings on your particular OS. Please follow the post Linux / Windows: Changing MTU value of a Network Interface Card (NIC) to change the MTU settings if you have not yet done it earlier.
Further reading which includes checking for possible hardware issues contributing to the above error, please visit MS Windows Tweaking: Performance, Security and Annoyances for tips, tricks, problem detection and general Windows tweak tips you can try.
