Starting about a month ago, I lost the ability to access my Unraid shares using the DNS name. I have no idea why or how to get it back. I'm able to access the shares with the IP though.
I ran through the basic troubleshooting step like flushing my DNS, I restarted the server, updated it to the latest version, deleting the unraid server from my Credential Manager in windows, but still getting the same results.

I'm able to access my shares from other machines with their DNS names just fine, something has gone wrong with just this Unraid server.

Start by reading this post:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/110580-security-is-not-a-dirty-word-unraid-windows-1011-smb-setup/

And this section in particular:

IF your Windows 11 computer's network setting is 'Public', MS may have reset what networking scanning features are allowed to work. Which features allowed seems to very with what version (Home PRO, etc) you are running what is allowed. The 'Private' settings are much looser as the assumption that that a 'Private' network will be a much more secure environment than a 'Public' network!

If worse comes to worse, consider using the the Alternative Method.

Once you have created the shortcut to the IP address, you can rename to have the DNS name!

OH! Any time you make a change to your Network settings, always reboot your Windows computer. SMB allows each Windows client to make only one connection to each server. And there is no way to logout from SMB, so a reboot is easiest way to do that.

I should probably mention that the Unraid server is discoverable in file explorer, it pops up with the DNS name and everything. I just can't access anymore through the discovered network share.

Attach Diagnostics ZIP to your NEXT post in this thread.

2 minutes ago, trurl said:

Attach Diagnostics ZIP to your NEXT post in this thread.

Attached. Oh, and my network connections are already set to private.

unraid01-diagnostics-20250529-1604.zip

Look here:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/170027-smb-windows-settings-available-through-power-shell-and-linux-samba-tools-informational-posting/#comment-1545332

And run smbstatus On the Unraid GUI Terminal.

And For windows:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/170027-smb-windows-settings-available-through-power-shell-and-linux-samba-tools-informational-posting/#findComment-1441603

Run Get-SmbConnection in a Power Shell with Administrative privileges on the Windows Client.

Here is what I'm seeing:

And nothing returns when I use the Get-SmbConnection command in a admin powershell terminal.

6 hours ago, Snipe3000 said:

I'm able to access my shares from other machines with their DNS names just fine, something has gone wrong with just this Unraid server.

Please explain this sentence.

Where are "my shares"?

What "other machines"?

How many Client computers are involved?

How many different Servers are involved?

I should word that a bit differently.

I'm able to access my other NAS (Synology) and its shared folders from my windows PC.

Only one client computer is involved. The only Server with the problem is the Unraid server. I'm only able to access the Unraid shared folders if I use the IP address instead of the server name "UNRAID01"

@Snipe3000 (Also pinging @JorgeB For his assistance with this) , found these two entries in the syslogs in your Diagnostics file:

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: +==============================================================================

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: | Installing new package /boot/config/plugins/dynamix.my.servers/dynamix.unraid.net.txz

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: +==============================================================================

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: Verifying package dynamix.unraid.net.txz.

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: Installing package dynamix.unraid.net.txz:

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: PACKAGE DESCRIPTION:

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: Package dynamix.unraid.net.txz installed.

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: Restoring node_modules from '/boot/config/plugins/dynamix.my.servers/node_modules-for-v4.8.0+9485809.tar.xz' to '/usr/local/unraid-api/node_modules'

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: node_modules restored successfully.

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: Starting flash backup (if enabled)

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: Starting the Unraid API

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: [PM2][WARN] Applications unraid-api not running, starting...

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: [PM2][WARN] App unraid-api has option 'wait_ready' set, waiting for app to be ready...

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: [PM2] App [unraid-api] launched (1 instances)

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: ┌────┬───────────────┬─────────────┬─────────┬─────────┬──────────┬────────┬──────┬───────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────â”

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: │ id │ name │ namespace │ version │ mode │ pid │ uptime │ ↺ │ status │ cpu │ mem │ user │ watching │

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: ├────┼───────────────┼─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┼────────┼──────┼───────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: │ 0 │ unraid-api │ default │ 4.8.0+… │ fork │ 3270 │ 3s │ 0 │ online │ 0% │ 194.7mb │ root │ disabled │

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: └────┴───────────────┴─────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────┴────────┴──────┴───────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: ✅ Installation is complete, it is safe to close this window

May 29 01:59:06 Unraid01 rc.local: plugin: dynamix.unraid.net.plg installed

And

May 29 12:00:30 Unraid01 kernel: i801_smbus 0000:00:1f.3: SMBus is busy, can't use it!

### [PREVIOUS LINE REPEATED 927 TIMES] ###

I am not sure what is going on or if it even related to your SMB problem.

Looks like some corruption is going on there.

53 minutes ago, Frank1940 said:

i801_smbus 0000:00:1f.3: SMBus is busy, can't use it!

For this, try unloading the Dynamix System temp drivers.

@Frank1940 I added another windows desktop (windows 10) to the network and that PC can use the unraid server via the dns name just fine. I'm guessing that makes it an issue with this PC specifically (Windows 11).

I have had this similiar type of problem happen in the past with Win11. BUT I don't have the problem at this time. I don't know how to reproduce the problem. I have no clue as what happened to fix it. (I am using WIN11 PRO version 24H2 at this point in time.)

Here is my suggestion. Access it via the IP address. I would set up a Windows Credential to the server using the IP address.

Now look at this post:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/191221-some-musings-on-smb-and-samba-and-unraid-and-windows/#findComment-1561585

You can pin the server to the Quick access portion of File Explorer but the Quick access link will be the IP address.

If you use the "An Approach for the more Complex Network" section and rename the Shortcut to the server's DNS name, you will have two clicks (the second one being the server name) to get to the server. Unfortunately, File Explorer refuses to be tricked by our attempt to rename the IP address and displays the IP address on the address bar.

BTW, Windows could care less whether you use DNS name or the IP address. It will use either. And, apparently, WIN11 considers each one to be a different server so you can login with a different set of credentials with this trick. (I thought for a long time that my failure to be able to use an IP address was because I was already logged in using the DNS name and Windows was preventing a second connection to the server via the IP address. )

Yeah I think pinning it to quick access will work for now. Very strange issue.

Thanks

Was struck by a wild thought. If you have a static IP address for the Unraid server, I think you can use the Windows 'Hosts' file to link the IP address to the Server-name. You will have to Google and research this one as my memory is very foggy on all the steps involved.

Here is an example of someone who did this:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/191224-smb-on-windows-and-different-usernames-followed-by-a-rookies-random-questions/

Setting it in the hosts file didn't work for me after the restart.

1 hour ago, Snipe3000 said:

Setting it in the hosts file didn't work for me after the restart.

Interesting! The 'restart' was of Windows???? Double check that the entry is still in the hosts file.

I am going to ping @Batter Pudding and see if he has some thoughts...

Edited June 26, 20251 yr by Frank1940

9 hours ago, Snipe3000 said:

Setting it in the hosts file didn't work for me after the restart.

That should work always.

Oh no! I think the issue is tailscale. I'll have to figure out why its causing this issue.

More importantly, why it started happening, even when tailscale settings haven't been messed with.

Edited June 27, 20251 yr by Snipe3000

I heard my name...

Unraid is weird. I learnt something new today.

All my PC in this house use different users. In the Windows to Windows world if Fred tried to click on \\Win7Server\ from the network neighbourhood, the Windows PC would throw up a login window as Fred was unknown to the Win7 box. I could then login with Known Creditials for the Win7 box. Even though Fred knocked at the door, I could login as Charlie with Charlie's WIn7 password.

Try that with Unraid and you just plain get Rejected.

To fix. Go to Unraid, give Fred an account but NO rights to anything. Just an account. Just let Unraid know that Fred is legit.

Now go back to your Win10 machine and attempt to connect. NOW you will get acknowledged by the Unraid box and it asks you for credentials. Now you can login as a known user, but not need to be Fred. You can login as Charlie now.

Notice I did not restart ANYTHING here. Just added the account on Unraid, then stepped back to the Win10 box and tried again.

(I'm going to turn that into a FAQ like note and put that somewhere... need better wording. Also want to do some testing...)

Also note - cos I am a tidy person, once I had logged in as Charlie I ticked the box on the Win10 box to let it remember the credentials. I then returned to unraid and deleted Fred. Rebooted the Win10 box and now it is happyily connected to the share every time. As Charlie.

On 5/29/2025 at 11:59 PM, Snipe3000 said:

I should probably mention that the Unraid server is discoverable in file explorer, it pops up with the DNS name and everything.

So @Snipe3000 , seeing this image makes me think you have a similar issue to me on the PC with a problem connecting, what EXACTLY is that username on that PC. That exact name has to be added to your unraid box as a user. Just add it. Don't need any rights to anything, just add that name. Now your Unraid box will acknowledge you and let you login with any username you like.

Not sure who you are on that Windows box? Open a Command Prompt (CMD) and type net user You'll get a list of usernames for that windows box.

Edited June 28, 20251 yr by Batter Pudding

11 hours ago, Batter Pudding said:

All my PC in this house use different users. In the Windows to Windows world if Fred tried to click on \\Win7Server\ from the network neighbourhood, the Windows PC would throw up a login window as Fred was unknown to the Win7 box. I could then login with Known Creditials for the Win7 box. Even though Fred knocked at the door, I could login as Charlie with Charlie's WIn7 password.

Try that with Unraid and you just plain get Rejected.

There is because LimeTech has changed the map to guest variable to 'BAD USER' rather than the default 'never'.

See here for more information:

https://www.samba.org/samba/docs/current/man-html/smb.conf.5.html#MAPTOGUEST

For security and a more Windows-like behavior, it should be 'never'! (For anyone who does not know, this can be changed by adding this line to the SMB Extras section of the GUI.)

map to guest = Never

9 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

There is because LimeTech has changed the map to guest variable to 'BAD USER' rather than the default 'never'.

So it is Unraid being weird. What an odd choice. 😕

I am now wondering if I fix it via SMB Extras, or leave it in case I start trying to answer questions on this forum. For some reason this rookie has a "Community Expert" tag attached to his account. 😂

34 minutes ago, Batter Pudding said:

So it is Unraid being weird. What an odd choice. 😕

I am now wondering if I fix it via SMB Extras, or leave it in case I start trying to answer questions on this forum. For some reason this rookie has a "Community Expert" tag attached to his account. 😂

If you stop and think about, the 'Bad User' choice allows the 'no login guest access' and the 'Public' Share access to work. (A fair percentage of Unraid users are still trying to maintain this status quo from 2010 by hacking Windows to force it to allow Windows clients to use guest access.)

I changed the setting to ' Never' well over a month ago and have not problems with it to date. (I expected this to be the case!) But I also never intend on using a 'Guest' logon again. As I said (and if you look at the Samba site), the default is now 'Never' and apparently it is not causing problems in the larger Samba world. Plus, from a security standpoint, why would any system administrator want to give a hacker a free pass to log onto their server even if it is just the user file system?

3 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

If you stop and think about, the 'Bad User' choice allows the 'no login guest access' and the 'Public' Share access to work.

Does it? I don't have any shares set to Public. My Unraid server popped up the "Windows cannot access \\SERVER. Check the spelling" error box. Even though that was clicking on it in the Network Neighbourhood.

If it works for something, then maybe there is a logic. At least I now know a simple fix with the username thing.