How to Fix Windows Error 0x80070035 (The Network Path Was Not Found)

By ErrorFix · Updated October 18, 2026 · 6 min read

What error 0x80070035 means

Error 0x80070035 carries the message "The network path was not found." It pops up when you try to open a network location — something like \\DESKTOP-ABC123\Documents or a mapped network drive — and Windows gives up before it even gets to ask for a username or password. In other words, this is a "I cannot find the place" error, not a "you are not allowed in" error. If the remote folder existed but your account lacked permission, you would see "Access is denied" instead.

That distinction makes troubleshooting simpler, because the problem is always in one of three places: the name or address you typed, the network path between the two machines, or the sharing settings on the remote end. The connection breaks when the remote PC is asleep or powered off, when your PC is on a different subnet or a Public network profile, when Windows cannot resolve the computer name to an IP address, when network discovery is switched off, or when a firewall or an old SMB protocol version blocks the connection. Nine times out of ten, it is one of the first two.

Error 0x80070035 is extremely common in homes and small offices after a Windows update, or right after adding a new PC to the network — updates sometimes flip the network profile back to Public (which blocks discovery) or disable older sharing features. It is also the classic error with NAS boxes and old network printers, since those devices often still rely on the ancient SMB 1.0 protocol that modern Windows keeps turned off by default.

Common causes

• Network discovery or file and printer sharing is turned off: both switches must be on, on the PC that is sharing and on yours.
• A typo or an unresolvable computer name: Windows cannot turn \\DEKSTOP-PC1 into an IP address because of a typo, a stale NetBIOS cache, or the remote PC getting a new IP from the router.
• The remote PC is asleep, off, or on another network: a sleeping laptop answers nothing, and Public network profiles block discovery traffic by default.
• SMB protocol mismatch: the remote device only speaks SMB 1.0 while Windows requires SMB 2 or SMB 3, so the handshake never completes.
• Firewall blocking file and printer sharing: Windows Defender Firewall or a third-party firewall drops the inbound sharing traffic before it reaches the shared folder.

How to fix error 0x80070035 — step by step

Work through these fixes in order. Start with connectivity, then sharing settings, then the protocol-level fixes.

1. Make sure both PCs are powered on and on the same network. Wake the remote computer and confirm it is connected to the same Wi-Fi or wired network as yours. Press Win + R, type cmd, and ping the remote PC with ping 192.168.1.42, replacing the address with the remote PC's IP. If the ping times out, stop here — no share will work until basic connectivity does. Check that neither PC is on a guest Wi-Fi network, which isolates devices from each other by design.
2. Turn on network discovery and file and printer sharing. On both PCs, open Settings, go to Network & internet, then Advanced network settings, then Advanced sharing settings. Make sure the profile your connection uses — usually Private — has both Network discovery and File and printer sharing switched on. Confirm the network itself is set to Private rather than Public, because Public profiles block discovery by default: in Settings go to Network & internet, then Wi-Fi or Ethernet, open your network, and set Network profile type to Private.
3. Connect with the IP address instead of the computer name. Name resolution is the single most common trigger for 0x80070035. Instead of a path like \\DESKTOP-ABC123\Share, type \\192.168.1.42\Share into the File Explorer address bar and press Enter. To find the remote PC's IP, open a command prompt on it and run ipconfig, then look for the IPv4 address under the active adapter. If the IP works but the name does not, the share itself is fine and you have a name-resolution problem, which step 6's cache flush usually clears.
4. Check the SMB protocol settings on both machines. If the target is an old NAS, network drive, or printer, it may only support SMB 1.0, which Windows disables by default. Open Control Panel, go to Programs, choose Turn Windows features on or off, expand "SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support," tick "SMB 1.0/CIFS Client," and restart. For a Windows-to-Windows share that broke after an update, also check insecure guest logons: run gpedit.msc, go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Network, Lanman Workstation, and set "Enable insecure guest logons" to Enabled if the remote device uses guest access.
5. Allow file sharing through the Windows Firewall. Open Control Panel, go to System and Security, then Windows Defender Firewall, then Allow an app or feature, and tick File and Printer Sharing for the Private profile, plus Domain if shown. If you run a third-party firewall or antivirus suite, check that it is not silently blocking inbound SMB traffic on TCP port 445. Most suites have a network-profile setting that needs to say Home or Private rather than Public.
6. Reset the network stack and flush the name cache. When everything looks right but the name still will not resolve, corrupted network state is the usual suspect. Open Terminal as administrator and run these commands one at a time: ipconfig /flushdns, nbtstat -R, netsh winsock reset, and netsh int ip reset, then restart your PC. This clears stale DNS and NetBIOS entries and rebuilds the network stack, which clears 0x80070035 in cases where the share worked yesterday and broke overnight.

Did this fix it? Quick checklist

• The share opens at \\IP\Share in File Explorer
• ping to the remote PC succeeds with no timeouts
• The remote PC appears under Network in File Explorer (discovery is working)
• A mapped network drive reconnects automatically after a reboot

If the error survives all six steps, verify the share name and permissions on the remote PC itself — right-click the folder, open Properties, go to the Sharing tab, and confirm it is actually shared with the right accounts. On domain-joined office PCs, group policy can override local sharing settings, so talk to your IT admin before changing SMB or firewall settings there. And if the target is a NAS box, check the manufacturer's support page for a firmware update that adds SMB 2 or SMB 3 support — that is the permanent fix for legacy-device cases.