You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network, Go to System in Control Panel

Description

After installing a new Windows 2008 server with the name TESTSERVER2 and modifying %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts or adding a DNS CNAME/A entry for TESTSERVER, you get the following error when trying to connect to \\TESTSERVER:
"You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network, Go to System in Control Panel to change the computer name and try again".

Solution

On the new Windows 2008 server (TESTSERVER2):
1. Add a registry DWORD key called "DisableStrictNameChecking" under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters and set it to "1".
2. Restart the "Server" service (net stop server && net start server).

Affected software:

Microsoft Windows 2008
Microsoft Windows 2008 R2

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