Question : The specified network name is no longer available

Hello Experts,

I currently have a simple home network in use. I have an assorted number of Virtual Machines on the host PC. For some reason I experience the error message "The specified network name is no longer available." My Host PC has a shared folder setup without any restrictions. Anyone can view/change the files within this shared folder. My physical PCs in the house are just fine. The virtual machines however receive that error message when attempting to download files from the shared folder. Smaller files that are one or two MB seem to download just fine --- anything larger prompts that error. This happens on all virtual machines and makes no difference if static IP addresses are setup or not.

I also use ZoneAlarm as a firewall. I have added one of my virtual machines (which has a static IP assigned) to the trusted list. The virtual PC does not have a firewall active (I disabled the Windows firewall).

The software being used for the virtual PCs is VMware Workstation 6.0.4

All PCs are Windows XP Professional SP3 however two of the physical PCs without any problems run XP Home SP3.

The funny thing is that they can see the files but can't download anything significant.

Please help if you can! Thanks!

Answer : The specified network name is no longer available

It seems that VMware was the culprit. Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 does not have the same issues. This limits the issue to VMware. Possibly a bug within the application. Thanks for your help anyway!