Diagnosing “Network path is not found” error

Multiple Overseer customers over the last few years have sent me Emails where Overseer was returning an error from the system, “Network path is not found”. This is a very common error message returned by Windows, and has a number of potential causes– 100% of the time, this has been a configuration issue in the customer’s environment.  If you are receiving this error with our network monitoring software, please use this checklist to try to determine the cause:

  • Make sure both computers(Overseer computer and remotely monitored computer) are running on the same LAN, or a WAN without port blocking.
  • Make sure the Windows firewall is disabled, or that they are sufficiently opened to facilitate communication between these computers.
  • Make sure UAC is disabled. Note that some aspects of UAC may remain enabled, even after turning it off in the GUI.
  • Check the times on both computers. Computer clocks must be within 15min of each other, ideally within seconds or less. Be sure to check both the date and time.
  • Make sure these services are enabled and running on both computers:
    • Remote Registry Service
    • Server
    • Workstation
    • Computer Browser
    • Remote Procedure Call
    • TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Service
  • Open your network card(s) properties, and make sure these are checked:
    • Client for Microsoft Networks
    • File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks
    • Also make sure “Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP” is enabled
    • Make sure “802.1x” authentication is disabled(potentially buried under ‘configure’ tab for network adapter

 

If all these things are checked and the error persists, please perform these tasks and contact support with the results:

  • Check the system, security, application event logs on both computers for potentially related errors
  • Make sure you can connect to the remote computer manually:
    • Start->Run and type in \\remotemachine\c$ where remotemachine is the name of that computer
    • Use the same credentials as used in Overseer when prompted
    • Run ‘regedit’ and attempt to open the remote machine’s registry(File->Connect Network Registry…)
  • Create a debug file where you’ve re-created the problem, and include it with your message to support.