Windows Vista - Timed out connecting/Socket timed out when Connecting to Network Share

When connecting to a Windows Vista PC over the network, the connection may take too long to respond and eventually stop before the SMB session is established.

Re-install File Sharing

Windows File Sharing sometimes gets into a bad state and needs re-installing. Use the following steps to uninstall and re-install it.

1. Launch Control Panel, then "Network Connections".
2. Right-click on "Local Area Connection" and choose "Properties".
3. If "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" is listed, select it, then click Uninstall. Then click Close, right click on "Local Area Connection" again and choose Properties again.
4. Click "Install...".
5. In the popup window, Select "Service" and click "Add...".
6. The Window that pops up should have "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" listed. Select it and click OK.
7. Click Close.
8. Reboot your computer.

Same error message occurs

If you still get a timeout error after the steps above, try rebooting your iPad or iPhone. If you still get the same timeout error message, do you have another computer on your local LAN that could be used to test the connection to this Vista machine? If so, a UNC path such as "\\VistaMachine\ShareName" in Windows or "smb://VistaMachine/ShareName" from Mac Finder's "Go->Connect to Server" menu will attempt to connect using the SMB protocol. If these cannot connect, something must be blocking the network packets on your Vista machine.