The most obvious reason for the inaccessibility of a computer running Windows is the lack of a working network interface on the service we need, expressed in the message "Network path not found." In our case, such a service is the Netbios service. According to the specifications of this standard, each device on the network must have a name and membership in the workgroup. So, to localize the place of the problem (if we are talking about a regular peer-to-peer network), some actions need to be performed.
First, use the ping command to check if the host is accessible from other computers on your local network. To do this, just click the "Start" button, select the "Run" menu and type cmd in the window that opens. A command prompt window opens, where you need to type the command ping IP_ADDRESS_REMOTE_PC. Repeat this step several times and make sure that the host is unavailable, the system will display an error "Network path not found." If the machine is not accessible from only one PC, then check the settings of the firewall and Netbios settings (protocol support via TCP / IP must be enabled). Give up the name of the PC in Cyrillic, use English only to designate it. You should also scan your PC for malware with an antivirus with the latest databases. Otherwise (when the computer is unavailable from all machines), you need to make sure that the network adapter works correctly.
The most efficient way to do this is to download a live Linux distribution like Knoppix or Puppy Linux. The necessary equipment (namely a network card) will be detected by the kernel. Remember to set the IP device and remember it. Now again we check the remote system with the ping command. If the packets "do not pass", the system still says: "The network path was not found" - replace the network adapter. If everything is in order with the hardware, then check the firewall settings on the remote machine.
But in eliminating this problem, there are subtleties. Let's talk about some of them. It is possible that you have a Wi-Fi connection and Kaspersky KIS or NOD is installed. Lower the security level of Kaspersky, as it blocks traffic by acting as a firewall. With NOD installed, also carefully look at the settings of the firewall. The problem may also vary depending on the version of Windows. One of the causes of the error is tunneling through version 6 of the IP protocol. You can try to remove this protocol from all computers. Often the cause of the problem may be a router with a built-in firewall, so be sure to make sure that its settings are correct in relation to the LAN.
There is another kind of the “Network path not found” problem specific to a specific OS version - Windows 7 in the 64-bit version, the only version of the operating system where this error occurs. To solve, add the network gateway (router) address as WINS. You can also check if the computer uses the node method in network communication (which excludes the Netbios protocol). Just type ipconfig / all in the Windows console and verify that No Peer is set in the Host Type field. If so, then use the Regedit command to start the registry editor and follow the path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ NetBt \. There we find a couple of parameters called NodeType and DhcpNodeType and boldly delete them. After completing this operation, restart the PC. Again, try to connect to it using the Netbios protocol.
There are also “popular” ways of dealing with the problem “The network path was not found,” excluding the determination of its cause. One of them is the removal of all hidden network devices (you can see them if you select in the device manager in the menu "View"> "Show hidden devices"), followed by a reboot. After that, the system will again find all the remote devices, and the problem may be solved.
If you have mixed networks with different versions of the operating system, for example, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 7, “Network path not found” is the most common error when connecting to shared network folders. Be sure to try all of the above options to solve the problem.