Printer and file folders unavailable

I am running server 2003 with xp and 2000 clients. My
printing is done through the print server on our server
and files are stored and shared on a 2000 and xp
computer. My problem is that our printer and file
folders are unavailable for some clients. Usually a log
off and log on helps but to me this seems like a band aid
to a bigger problem. It appears that the communication
between the client and server is lost but I do not know
how this is happening nor do I know how to correct it.

The server is available to everyone and the file folders
are shared with permissions set to everyone but it still
won't allow some people to connect.

Is there a way to correct this?

Thank you in advance.

Sometimes SMB signing is the culprit. By default Windows 2003 server
requires SMB signing. You can try disabling [ NOT undefined] it in Domain
Controller Security Policy under security settings/local policies/security
options - Microsoft network server:digitally sign communications(always) and
then running gpupdate /force on the domain controller. XP Pro computers seem
to have the most problems with SMB signing. The other concern is to make
sure your DNS is configured correctly in that the domain controller must
point to itself as it's preferred DNS server in tcp/ip properties and the
domain computers [W2K/XP Pro] must point only to the domain controller. If
they can not contact the domain controller, authentication will fail. A
common problem is configuring domain computers with he IP addresses of ISP
DNS servers in their preferred DNS server list which will definitely result
in network connectivity and authentication problems. -- Steve

http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBL/tip5800/rh5874.htm -- refers to SMB problems and
XP Pro

"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:46be01c4a4b2$f2b81220$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am running server 2003 with xp and 2000 clients. My
> printing is done through the print server on our server
> and files are stored and shared on a 2000 and xp
> computer. My problem is that our printer and file
> folders are unavailable for some clients. Usually a log
> off and log on helps but to me this seems like a band aid
> to a bigger problem. It appears that the communication
> between the client and server is lost but I do not know
> how this is happening nor do I know how to correct it.
>
> The server is available to everyone and the file folders
> are shared with permissions set to everyone but it still
> won't allow some people to connect.
>
> Is there a way to correct this?
>
> Thank you in advance.