Issue connecting to network servers through explorer by hostname but not by IP

I realise this is a pretty tedious thing to diagnose without being able to see the issue in front of you but i'll try to provide as much info as I can. I've tried several things mentioned online and havent come across anything that works yet.

I am on a windows 10 machine and an issue starting occurring a week or two ago after some windows updates installed. I managed to resolve the issue by running a system restore to a couple of days before that and things had come good. Fast forward to this week, the updates went through automatically yesterday (doh) and I butchered the system restore so that I do not have the option to use it. I tried manually uninstalling windows updates that had occurred in last week or so and no luck.

My workstation is connected to a domain where I have a number of VMs running (variety of windows O/S version, 2003 up to 2012 R2).

I have no problems with RDP into these machines via hostname. When I try to browse them either via a mapped drive or simply \\servername, I intermittently have an issue where it tells me that it cannot connect.

The error reads: Windows cannot access \servername. 0x80070035. If I try to view from the IP address, it works OK.

I can ping the servername and get the correct IP address. I have confirmed my DNS server is the DC on my local network, which is the same as the servers. I am finding if I log in with a different user profile, it works... Sometimes. I had thought it was a categorical fix, but I have since replicated the issues on new profiles as well.

Time syncing also looks all good on the servers.

Where do I go now??

Some common fixes you may try:

• Check if NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled: Go to the properties of your Network interface, click TCP/IPv4 Properties, WINS tab, then click Advanced and check Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.

• Set LANMan authentication level: Open Local security Policy editor, go to Local Policies > Security Options and setting Network security: LAN Manager authentication level. and choose Send LM & NTLM-use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated.

Workaround: Make an entry in your HOSTS file.