This is a very general error message returned by Windows when a networking component is malfunctioning.

The following are some of the more common reasons why this error message might be returned by Windows:

• Check to make sure you have access to the Shared Storage drive. Open Windows Explorer, expand My Network Places | Entire Network | Microsoft Windows Network | (workgroup name) | (Shared Storage drive name).
   
• Trying to access the Shared Storage drive and the drive is offline. Try power cycling the Shared Storage drive, the router/hub and rebooting the machine which you are trying to access the drive with.
   
• If the Shared Storage drive has a different IP than it was originally assigned when the network mapping was created. Try using the Maxtor Quickstart software to resetup the mapped network drive and shortcut. Note: Make sure to first delete the mapped network drive in Windows Explorer and the Desktop shortcut before attempting to recreate them with Quickstart.
   
• Windows 2000/XP: The browser service has not refreshed yet. Try restarting the computer.
   
• Firewalls can block the traffic to the network which could generate this message. Try temporarily disabling any software or hardware firewalls to isolate the problem.
   
• Routers can cause cached traffic to occur. Try rebooting the router, also reboot the Shared Storage drive.
   
• Roxio's Drag-to-Disk function can cause this error if a mapped network drive exists. Try disabling Roxio.
   
• Like firewalls, some anti-spyware tools have the same effect. Try temporarily disabling any anti-spyware programs and restart the computer to isolate the problem.
   
• If you are logging in using a laptop and you also log in to a domain account at another location, the profile can be set to a different workgroup. Make sure the laptop is set to the same workgroup as the shared storage drive. You can also use the Advanced Settings of the Shared Storage drive to change the name of the Workgroup to match what your laptop is using. See also:
   
• WindowsXP: Make sure you are logged in as the same user that was used when the Shared Storage was set up.
   
• If the mapped network drive isn't used for a while it might have a red "X" on it, sometimes when trying to reconnect to these shares directly in My Computer it may give you this message. Try rebooting the machine. The network share is set to "Reconnect at Login" by default and this may re-establish the connection.