Question : Empty Directory List with UNC path

I am trying to connect to another computer (both Windows XP SP 3) via UNC path

  \\targetmachine\path

(where 'targetmachine' is the computer's name). This worked yesterday, it has for a long time--but not right now. I shut the machines down last night, started them today, and I now get a message 'Windows cannot find .... Check the spelling and try again..."

So I try

  \\targetmachine

in Windows Explorer and that does not raise an exception, but does not show anything in the directory list--it is empty.

This happens from various computers trying to connect to the target machine.

I did a warm reboot the target machine, and one of the other machines. No difference.

I tried nbtstat -R from the command line on the computers, no difference. Time on all machines are the same.

I ran a UNC path on the target machine to the target machine (and others) and it works fine. Also, I can get a connection to the Internet in Firefox just fine, but when I just tried Internet Explorer, it tells me that it cannot connect. I pinged an domain name from the command line and it responded.

I don't know what to look at.

Answer : Empty Directory List with UNC path

Question PAQ'd, 500 points refunded, and stored in the solution database.