Hey guys.
Thank you for your thoughts. First of all I found a solution. When navigating to the map network drive prompt (this pc>map network drive) I had been using the "Browse..." button to try to find my share. That is when I was getting the error message. Typing in the IP address of the server then /path allowed me to connect!
I'm not a Windows user really, I just have use it for a piece of exam related software (thank you covid). I set up access my shares on the mac by browsing the GUI and on Ubuntu by typing the IP and path. It never occurred to me that windows would have such a problem with the browse function until I watched a Spaceinvader One video (what a legend). He didn't use the "Browse..." button but typed out the path and recommended using an IP address rather than the server's name.
FYI, I am using Windows 10 Pro 20H2 (not a VM). I had a lot of issues getting my exam software to run smoothly and had to update to get it working. I have a few windows VM's scattered across my PC's and ran into the same problem, with the same solution.
Once again, Big thanks.
Richard