An Error Occurred While Trying To Share Folder Over a Network. Server Service Not Started

Yesterday, one of the clients of CoreNetworkZ Tech Solutions, Anthea Gouder, asked for my help to fix a file-sharing problem on her Windows 11 laptop.

None of the computers in her office could share files over her office network. She told me she saw the error message, "An error occurred while trying to share. The Server service is not started," when she tried to share a file with another PC in her office LAN.

This article is about this particular error and the solution to fix it.

I asked Anthea about when this error first started showing. She told me all the Windows 11 computers had an update, and after that, she saw this error while trying file and folder sharing over the LAN.

I immediately understood the reason behind it. The LANmanserver service is somehow disabled on her computers. If the LANmanserver service is off on a Windows PC, it cannot share files with other devices on the network.

Then, Windows will show several similar messages when someone tries to start file and printer sharing.

Ramesh TP, one regular reader of CoreNetworkZ Tech Solutions, mentioned a similar error message when he tried to share a file with a computer in his office.

Ramesh told me he saw this error: "The remote device or resource won’t accept the connection". He saw this error when he sent a file to his teammate's laptop.

Another possible error message you might see when the LanmanServer service is off is "The specified network name is no longer available."

Johnson Samuel mentioned it in a comment while he tried to take a printout from his computer.

Johnson is a client of CoreNetworkZ Tech Solutions. He has a DTP shop that uses custom tools developed by us.

I will cover the three reasons Windows shows errors while sharing files or trying to access a printer from a computer.

1. The lanmanserver service is off.

2. Disabled Server service

3. File and Printer sharing is disabled

I explained three possible error messages Windows will show while trying to share a file or print a document using the printer. This section covers the solution to fix the following error messages.

1. "An error occurred while trying to share. The server service is not started. The shared resource was not created at this time".

2. "The remote device or resource won’t accept the connection".

3. "The specified network name is no longer available."

The solution is to start the 'lanmanserver' service. I will explain two methods to do it. The first method is from the Command Prompt, and the second is from the Services window.

1. Turn on LanmanServer Service from the Command Prompt

   In the first method, I ask you to start the Command Prompt on your Windows PC with administrative privileges.

   Type CMD in the search and click the 'Run Command Prompt as administrator'.

   Type the following DOS command and press the Enter key.

   net start lanmanserver

   

   After starting the 'lanmanserver' service, most issues with sharing a folder on your computer over a Local Network will be over.

2. Start 'LanmanServer' Service From the Services Page

   In the second method, I will show you how to turn on the 'LanmanServer' Service from the service page.

   Visit the service page using the instructions in this link, and then find the 'LanmanServer' Service.

   

   Click on it and tap the start key.

I will conclude this article for now. If you have questions, I suggest you share them in the comment section. If you wish further studies, I recommend you read the reference pages below.

1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1040392/can-we-disable-lanmanserver-service-in-order-to-av
2. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/the-lanmanserver-service-cannot-start-after-you-restart-a-computer-that-is-running-windows-7-or-windows-server-2008-r2-if-a-volume-that-is-referenced-in-the-path-variable-is-inaccessible-b921e603-2d3b-ad7c-c522-c3ff268b746b