This is driving me nuts.... We have a file server (running Windows 2008 Server R2) called db2. We have a CNAME Alias DNS record that points "RetireDataServer" to "db2". If I open up a UNC path using the actual computer name (\\db2\ShareName), I have no problems. However, if I open up the UNC path through the alias (\\RetireDataServer\ShareName), I have the following problem: If I create a new folder/file or rename a folder/file within Windows Explorer, I cannot access the file/folder until I manually refresh the window. For example, attempting to open a newly renamed/created file will result in a "file not found" type of error within the application. If I create a new folder and attempt to open it, I will receive a "*path* refers to a location that is unavailable" error in Windows Explorer. After receiving the error, I can usually access the file/folder on my 2nd attempt. I can also avoid the error by manually refreshing the window in question. It seems that there is some type of race condition where Windows 7 is not properly refreshing the state of file/folders in the window. This problem happens with Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) connecting to Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard. I have *no* problems doing the same thing with Windows XP Professional SP3 as the client. I did have to apply the fix described here (http://support.microsoft.com/?id=281308) to the 2008 R2 server, but all is well with XP after applying those changes. I have verified this error on two Windows 7 boxes... Is there any way to mitigate this, other than using Windows XP?

1. I would start with cleaning DNS cache (cmd with elevated rights): ipconfig /flushdns 2. What is output from ipconfig /all 3. I would prefer FQDN instead of Netbios over TCP/IP names. (What is the output from nbtstat test?) 4. You may not specify suffixes properly. 5. You may want to dig deeper into communication with network monitor (either from MS or free Wireshark) Regards Milos

Well, I'm probably totally off-topic. Besides that being embarrassing, there's already enough nonsense in this forum without my adding to it. So I'll delete this post later. But I kind of suspect something I'm puzzling with is related to what you're describing, pgaule. Except I can provoke it on a local drive. Like such. And it's not so much a "race-condition" as it is a state issue. There are so many things this O/S can do that I don't even know about, that I won't even pretend to really know how to approach it. Maybe I'll try to repro my issue over a simplified network (minus DNS) and see what happens that way. I should've tried that already, but you know, effort. Good idea. The reason I'm posting this is because it's unclear (to me) exactly how you're viewing this in Explorer. Which way you got there, which of the Nav Pane elements are active (on the left), and if you're using the Address Bar. You also mention "...error within the application" which seems like a different statement altogether. In any case, you might try the following magic to see if it changes anything. Create one of these folders on your desktop with the exact name shown, then double-click it, then check if that Explorer view permits you to access your share without refreshing. Just as an experiment. Delete the folder afterwards. computer.{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} network.{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}