Server service randomly stops. Can't connect to shared drives/folders

[Crowley]

Hi there...

Sorry if this is in the wrong place. please feel free to move if required.

I have 2 machines connected via a switch. They both have shared folders. They both run a piece of software. One machine acts as a master the other connects to it for data.

The issue is that the "Server" service is randomly stopping on the master and none of the shares work. The software on the second machine is crashing because it can't see the shares on the master. Windows explorer can't see the shares either.

Once this service has been started the software works fine.

I have set the service recovery to restart on all failures but this hasn't resolved the issue.

Any ideas as to why this stops or how to rectify the problem?

 

[Trouble]

Are both machine involved running Windows 10?
First check device manager, expand network adapters, right click any and all network adapters involved and choose properties, select the Power Management tab from along the top and uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
Like wise check Control Panel Power Options, for any settings there that might be causing the issue. If you are going to use the computer as a network server, then high availability is critical and Power Saving features are not really an option, you need to turn them all off.

 

[Crowley]

Are both machine involved running Windows 10?
First check device manager, expand network adapters, right click any and all network adapters involved and choose properties, select the Power Management tab from along the top and uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
Like wise check Control Panel Power Options, for any settings there that might be causing the issue. If you are going to use the computer as a network server, then high availability is critical and Power Saving features are not really an option, you need to turn them all off.

Both machines are running W10. They were built the same, but only one is suffering. The service on the other machine runs permanently with no issues....

I'll try your suggestions and see what happens... Thanks for your input

 

[Trouble]

They were built the same, but only one is suffering

Have you actually tried switching roles to confirm that?
Does the one currently with the server role have any third party security suite installed or for that matter any third party networking or VPN software installed that is not present on the other.
Additionally on the problem machine you might try the native System File Checker
sfc /scannow
just to see if it finds anything out of sorts
Additionally you might try Clean Booting the problem machine to see if the problem persists

 

[Crowley]

Have you actually tried switching roles to confirm that?
Does the one currently with the server role have any third party security suite installed or for that matter any third party networking or VPN software installed that is not present on the other.
Additionally on the problem machine you might try the native System File Checker
sfc /scannow
just to see if it finds anything out of sorts
Additionally you might try Clean Booting the problem machine to see if the problem persists

AVAST antivirus is the only one. The software being used connects using shared folders to look for common license and data files. No special setup at all.... as long as they can see and access shared files and folders it works as it should. It's only when the Server Service stops on the master that the problems occur.

Machines have both been clean booted.