Networking Problems

[madhatter]

Any thoughts?

I have come across situations in which the settings are right, but which just won’t work, in which the solution has been to change a setting to “wrong” then change it back. Along the lines of good old “switch it off and on again” ploy.

Quick enough to try while waiting for someone who actually knows what they’re talking about anyway.

[mc2fool]

I take it the first three of the settings are all under "Private" on all systems ... and that all systems, under Network and Sharing Centre, show a private network under active networks?

Is the workgroup name the same on all of them? Right-click This PC and select Properties.

[nowretired]

try this
go to

Control Panel
Programs and Features
Turn Windows features on or off
is SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support selected?
if not select it.

[djpeck1]

Simple home networking on Windows computers has always been a very "hit and miss" affair. Even more so in Windows 10 where SMB 1.0 is disabled by default. Another poster suggested enabling SMB 1.0 by turning on the necessary Windows feature. This will almost certainly resolve the problems you are experiencing, BUT it is NOT to be recommended! SMB 1.0 opens up your machines to dangerous exploits and vulnerabilities. This is why it is now disabled by default. Just Google "SMB 1.0 vulnerabilities" to get an overview.

I have spent many hours in the past trying to sort out Windows home networking and can suggest the following in addition to what you have already tried.

Firstly are you using any 3rd party "Internet security" apps or programs that include firewalls? These can interfer with network discovery and so initially disable any 3rd party firewalls to see if your issues are resolved. Check all machines on your home network.

Secondly and I have been caught out by this. Are you using any VPN (virtual private network) software? If so temporarily disable it to see if your problems are resolved. Again check all machines on your home network.

Finally in small home networks Windows relies on a couple of services to allow reliable network discovery. These are;
Function Discovery Provider Host
Function Discovery Resource Publication

Both of these services need to be running on all your home networked machines.

To check this open up a command prompt (cmd) and run "services.msc". You then look for the 2 above services and they should be shown as "running". If they are not running then you can start them by right clicking and then selecting "start". Also check that they are set to start automatically and if not then set them to start automatically. To do this right click and select "Properties" then check "Startup type" and change it to "Automatic" if it is not already set.

Microsoft now recommend mapping network drives rather that using network browsing and you will find that much more reliable if you still can't get your machines to show up under networking.

Good luck!