Networked computers do not all show up in explorer

[sfkayser]

I have a home workgroup consisting of 6 wired computers. Four run the latest version of Windows 10 Home. The other 2 are Windows XP computers. Using share names or mapped networks drives I can access all 6 computers from each of the other 5. My problem is that they can not all see each other in the network section of file manager as I have always done before. I lost that ability after an earler upgrade. The two XP computers normally show only each other, and the 4 Windows 10 computers can only see each other. One of the windows 10 computers normally lists all 6, but not always. When that does happen, it’s always the computer that was turned on first.

The exception to these comments occurs if I start one of the XP computers first and let it boot before I start the other 5. In that instance all 6 computers show up in file manager on all 6 computers. That’s my goal! But I use the XP computers infrequently and rarely would they be the first on.

I’m presumming that this problem has something to do with the master browser, but I’m not very familiar with that concept and how to configure it. Any ideas on how I might resolve this issue and get all 6 computers to display in file manager on all computers regardless of start otder?

 

[Wolfie]

Hi sfkayser,

I don't do it myself but you can start here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/search?query=network sharing issues with windows 10

 

[CADesertRat]

Personally, I have 2-W10 1803 and 2- Win 7 computers and sometimes all the computers showed up under Network in File Explorer and sometimes some showed up and sometimes none showed up.
I ended up just Mapping all the computer drives that I wanted to see and all work fine now.
For some reason W10 sure seems flaky on Networking since I never had any of these problems until W10 came out.

 

[mikep6dd]

Until about a couple of months ago, my Synology NAS and PC both appeared under Network in File Explorer. It seems that one day then, they just disappeared. This now always occurs after first switching on the PC. The situation can be recovered by restarting the PC, but who wants to keep doing that?
A lot of people appear to be suffering from this on the web and there are suggestions that it happened after a particular Windows 10 update. I can't vouch for this.
There are many suggestions on the web for fixing the problem, but none have been permanent in my case. One in particular is to re-activate smb1.0/cifs file sharing support. However it is understood that Windows no longer considers this safe, and I didn't find it a permanent fix anyway.
The latest suggestion I tried was to delete any entries in the registry under HKEYCURRENTUSER\Software\Microsoft\Wind\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2 that starts with ##. I found one and deleted it and this seemed to work for a day or so, but then the items under Network disappeared again and I found that the deleted registry entry had re-appeared of its own accord!
As CADesertRat, I too have mapped My NAS Share Folder, which does effectively solve the access problem, but not the issue.
Would still like to hear from anyone who believes they have the definitive answer, or is it something that needs feeding back to Microsoft for a solution?

 

[CADesertRat]

Until about a couple of months ago, my Synology NAS and PC both appeared under Network in File Explorer. It seems that one day then, they just disappeared. This now always occurs after first switching on the PC. The situation can be recovered by restarting the PC, but who wants to keep doing that?
A lot of people appear to be suffering from this on the web and there are suggestions that it happened after a particular Windows 10 update. I can't vouch for this.
There are many suggestions on the web for fixing the problem, but none have been permanent in my case. One in particular is to re-activate smb1.0/cifs file sharing support. However it is understood that Windows no longer considers this safe, and I didn't find it a permanent fix anyway.
The latest suggestion I tried was to delete any entries in the registry under HKEYCURRENTUSER\Software\Microsoft\Wind\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2 that starts with ##. I found one and deleted it and this seemed to work for a day or so, but then the items under Network disappeared again and I found that the deleted registry entry had re-appeared of its own accord!
As CADesertRat, I too have mapped My NAS Share Folder, which does effectively solve the access problem, but not the issue.
Would still like to hear from anyone who believes they have the definitive answer, or is it something that needs feeding back to Microsoft for a solution?

Yes, Mine also is random at showing up under network again, I believe it went back to that after I got 1803 thru WU's. When W10 first came out the problem wasn't prevalent and it seemed fine all the way through ver. 1709 but went to H$!! after that in 1803 and beyond.

 

[mikep6dd]

Hi again

I'm going to refer you to:

why in March 2019 I cant see my other network computers

In the first 3 weeks of March 2019, I could see all my networked computers. All of sudden, at the end of March 2019, I can no longer see them. Actually I had been accessing a file on another network

answers.microsoft.com

.

I found this yesterday. It suggests three methods of fixing this problem. I applied methods 1 and 3 (some of which I had already done). I chose not to include method 3 because it concerns re-activating smb1.0/cifs file sharing support which I've already referred to as possibly being unsafe.

Something in methods 1 and 3 appears to have had the desired effect, because to date, when starting my PC, both my NAS and PC are appearing immediately under Network. Could be early days but seems promising.

 

[mikep6dd]

Sorry, that should read I chose not to include method 2.

 

[CADesertRat]

In method 1, I have everything already setup as it say's except that I have password protected sharing turned on since all of my computers are password protected.
In method 2, I already had SMB 1 turned on.
In method 3, I had already set the first 4 to Automatic (delayed start) but the last 3 I haven't checked yet.
I haven't re-checked any of those settings lately to see if they were possibly changed by the version upgrades so I will have to do that.
Basically, since I mapped the drives and have had access to them, I have just let it slide.
Thanks for the MS Answers link as it may be helpful.

 

[mikep6dd]

It was early days, as the devices under Network did disappear again. So I went on to Mala_S's latter advice of Enabling NETBIOS over TCP/IP on Windows. This seemed to ring a bell and I begun to feel certain I had already done this, but when I got there it wasn't enabled, so I enabled it (again?) and hey presto my entries under Network have returned (temporarily?).

I'm beginning to wonder whether some of these settings are reverting of their own accord and giving these problems. Now that is concerning and presents a no win situation. I'll report further.

 

[CADesertRat]

As I said earlier, W10 seemed to be fine with networking until I hit 1709 and then networking protocols seem to get changed for the worse.
I did change the other settings in Services.msc but it made no difference so far.

 

[mikep6dd]

Yesterday I decided to Reset Network, something I've done before, to see if would make any difference this time. Unfortunately it didn't and nothing was showing under Network last night. I turned on the PC this morning, expecting to have to check all the settings that I've tried before, in case Network Resetting had changed them, only to find that both my NAS and PC were showing again under Network!!! I did notice this morning that my PC started up much quicker than it normally does - don't know if that is related or not.

Regrettably there seems to be no consistency to any of this and unless Microsoft wakes up to this issue (on the assumption that they know about it or even care) and do something about it, we may have to make do with our mapping alternative solution.

It's been good to chat to you. Thanks

 

[mikep6dd]

Hi again.

A couple of days ago I installed Windows 10 1809 for x64 2019 -03 update and since then my devices under Network have been showing up following PC start-up, something that hadn't been happening. Admittedly at one time today they did disappear, but very soon returned. This is a distinct improvement - let's hope it endures. Will advise

 

[mikep6dd]

Me again

Installed Windows 10 1809 for x64 2019-04 yesterday and situation still promising. Devices under Network are now still appearing.

 

[mikep6dd]

Me again

Still appearing. Looks as though problem may be fixed!

 

[Beingdinu]

Try this and see if it helps

1. By Turning on the Network Discovery will fix the issue and here are the steps.
2. Right click on Network and open the Network and sharing Center.
3. Click on Change advance sharing settings from the left pane.
4. Tick the options :-

• Turn on network discovery.
• Turn on file and printer sharing.
• Allow windows to manage home group connection (recommended).
• Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files in the public folders.
• Use 128-bit encryption to help protect files sharing connections (recommended).
• Turn off password protected sharing.

1. Also enable the NETBIOS on windows and here are the steps.

• Go to Run and type ncpa.cpl and press Enter.
• Right-click on the network connection and select Properties.
• Click on the Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/TPv4).
• Under General tab, click on the Advanced button.
• Click on the WINS tab and uncheck to Enable LMHOSTS Lookup.
• Also under NetBIOS setting, select Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.
• Click on OK, restart the system and check if you have an access to the files on the Windows 10 system.

 

[mikep6dd]

Hello Beingdinu

Thanks for the reply. I already have everything set as you mention above, other than I have 'password protected sharing' turned ON. Not sure what difference that makes.

However, since my entry above dated 15th April, things are still looking good after the Windows update that I mentioned. I hope anyone else initially suffering from this issue also found the update beneficial. It would be strange for it to resolve the issue for just me.

 

[mikep6dd]

Hello everyone

Well, perhaps it was too good to last. There appears to have been at least three Windows 10 updates in recent times (KB4497932, KB4499405 and KB4505056) and guess what, my NAS and PC have again disappeared from Network in File Explorer. I'm becoming more and more convinced that this issue lies at the feet of Microsoft. Anyone agree and is this getting reported back to them?

 

[Beingdinu]

Try This

• Get to where you can change the network adapter settings. There are several ways to get there. Here is one way.
• Under the start menu, select SETTINGS, in the Windows Settings window, select "Network & Internet"
• In the next window (called STATUS), select "Change Adapter Options"
• The next window should show all the network adapters on your system. For example, my laptop shows three ... a Bluetooth Network Connection, an Ethernet adapter and a Wi-Fi adapter. The following needs to be done for each adapter that you use to access the NAS over your network
• Right click the adapter and select "Properties"
• Highlight the connection, "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" ... then click the button labeled, "Properties" ... make sure that the connection remains checked before selecting Properties
• In the Properties window, click "Advanced" button
• In the Advanced TCP/IP Settings window, go to the WINS tab
• At the bottom of the WINS window, click the radio button to select "Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP" . The default is to use the NetBIOS setting from the DHCP server.

and also see if this link helps.

Network Discovery not working after win10 1709 update

social.technet.microsoft.com

 

[mikep6dd]

Hello Beingdinu

Thanks for the advice but, wait for it, this morning when I first went to file explorer, guess what, my NAS drive and PC are both showing again under 'Network', and I've done nothing about it since my entry on Sunday. It's got to be a Windows 10 issue.