Windows cannot access \\[other computer] error code 0x80004005

Beyond the above solutions solving generic / classic issues with this error code, another new issue can cause 0x80004005.

Since Windows 10 1709, the old SMB v1 protocol is not supported anymore by default, which is still used by several PCs or other network devices like routers providing a NAS. Note that SMB v1 might have been uninstalled on older Windows machines aswell. Follow these steps to re-enable it and access such devices again.

• Go to the classic Control Panel
• Go to Programs & Features
• Select Add or remove Windows features in the sidebar

• Make sure Support for SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing is checked.

  Depending on what you need you might only require the client or server component, and also install the automatic removal (which tries to protect you from SMB v1 security issues), but if you have no clue what I mean, just check the parent checkbox.

Restart your PC and try accessing the device again.

A typical device not supporting SMB 2 or newer are older FritzBox routers (popular in Germany), and if you try to access a USB hard disk attached to act as a NAS, you'll be unable to reach the router trying to connect to it.

Follow the instructions below. They might help. Or they might not

In the computer running Windows 8, press Win+R and in the Run command box, type:
control /name Microsoft.NetworkAndSharingCenter and press Enter.

Click on "Change advanced sharing settings" on the left pane and expand the "Private" sharing profile and make sure that Turn on network discovery and Turn on file and printer sharing are selected.

Expand the "Guest or Public" profile and make sure that Turn off network discovery and Turn off file and printer sharing are selected.

Expand the "All Networks" profile and scroll down to the bottom of the window and under "Password protected sharing", select Turn off password protected sharing.

Now, press Win+R and in the Run command box, type: \\Localhost. Verify that all your shared folders are present here.

Select a folder from the list and press Alt+Enter and in the Sharing tab, press the Share button and type in Everyone in the dropdown list and press Enter and set the "Permission level" to Read. Do this for every folder you want to share.

Finally, ensure that both computers (W7 and W8) have the same network mask.

Do this by pressing Win+R and in the Run command box, type: shell:ConnectionsFolder and select your network adapter for the wired Ethernet connection and press Alt+Enter. In the Properties window, scroll down to Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and double click it.

If the IP address and subnet mask have been entered manually, make sure the subnet mask matches that of the Windows 7 machine by following the same step on W7.

Now, find out the hostname of the W8 box by typing this into the Run command box:
cmd /c "hostname & pause".

Now switch to the W7 box and in the Run command box, type: \\HOSTNAME_OF_W8_BOX and see if you can access the files and folders on W8 now.

Here is a workaround.

Sometimes Network Discovery under windows simply won't work, but the network is present, just inaccessible.

Then, you should assign a static IP to the fileserver station.

Map the drive to the shared folder using the IP of the station instead of the computer name.

Example:

\\192.168.1.141\fileserver

instead of the inaccesible

\\computer-name\fileserver