SOLVED How is this possible?

[barryjo]

Please refer to the attached network diagram.
I have six computers all in the same workgroup. All are running Win 10 except Muman that is using Win 7. I would like each computer to be able to see the drives on all of the other computers. As you can see from the diagram, every computer can be viewed on at least two others. All computers can see at least two of the others. So, Why does the network break down and I have five links that do not work. All computers have the same user name and password except for Kitty and kitty has a different user name and password.

How can I diagnose and fix the broken links?

 

[Tim Barker]

Please refer to the attached network diagram.
I have six computers all in the same workgroup. All are running Win 10 except Muman that is using Win 7. I would like each computer to be able to see the drives on all of the other computers. As you can see from the diagram, every computer can be viewed on at least two others. All computers can see at least two of the others. So, Why does the network break down and I have five links that do not work. All computers have the same user name and password except for Kitty and kitty has a different user name and password.

How can I diagnose and fix the broken links?

Are they all physically linked or wirelessly linked or a combination? This might be one problem.

Not unlike a problem I am having at the moment but not quite the same. My problem is that I have 1 x portable running Win10 Pro 1511 build 10586.71 able to use wireless or physical connections, 1 x desktop running Win10 Pro (no build # given) physically linked to gateway, 1 x linux run gateway/ADSL modem, up to 2 x Raspberry Pis physically linked to the gateway and up to 2 x Raspberry Pis wirelessly linked to gateway, 1 x Fuji-Xerox printer physically attached to gateway. The modem used to, but no longer, give(s) an option to split the wireless and physical networks and is supposed to have a single network. The manufacturers tell me it has a single network that all machines should be attached to. Experience tells me something different.

All PCs are on the same network with the same defined gateway. The 2 Win10 machines have adjacent IP addresses fixed by the gateway box. I can connect to the printer only when the portable is attached to the gateway, physically. I can connect to and share drives with the second Win10 computer only when it is physically connected to the gateway. When using wireless I have the same IP address, same gateway, same DNS but have no access to the printer or the second Win10 machine. Similarly to get to the Raspberry Pi that acts as my (external) webpage I must be either physically connected to the network or access it from outside (ie from the WAN external to the gateway). Access is available to all wireless Pis when in wireless mode but not when physically connected.

In addition if I use the 'net view' command in a DOS box in the two different connections I get the expected answer when connected physically and no response when connected wirelessly. To me this suggests that the modem is in error and is disconnecting the two effective subnets but they (AVM makers of the Fritzbox) claim not. There seem to be similar stories elsewhere on the net that have occurred since a recent Win build was released (October?). Perhaps this is the problem and may well be part of the problem you have.

Sorry, forgot to add that they are all in the same "Workgroup" rather than "Homegroup". I have found Homegroups to be more of an issue than Workgroups but then maybe Microsoft is forcing us to use Homegroups instead. Also forgot to add that at all times and with all connections all of the PCs can see the internet - no problems with this part of the issue. Firewalls were an initial place to look but even turning off the firewalls on all machines had no impact on connectivity.

What happens with each of your machines if you enter a DOS box and type 'net view'?
Are the responses different or the same?
What are the IP addresses of the various boxes and the differences between the LAN setups on each box? (check Settings->Network->Ethernet->change adapter settings on each box)
Do you use fixed IP addresses or dynamic?
Are the 'dynamic' addresses fixed by your gateway?
What is your gateway if you have one?


Hope this in some way helps.

 

[barryjo]

Hi Tim, thanks for the reply. I am interested in all of the connections you are talking about. It will take me a day or so to digest all that you say. However, I have fixed my problem.

When I set up my computers, I used the same user name and password for all of them. However, I also signed up with a microsoft account, i.e. (e-mail address removed). Now some of my computers are signed up with microsoft and others are not. When I turn on the computers, on the welcome screen, some have (e-mail address removed) and others my user or account name. I think that I should have tried to log on to some of the computers with the (e-mail address removed) user name and others with my normal user name. I changed all of my computers to be a "local account" and now everything seems to work. I still don't understand all the details but with all computers on "local account" rather than logging on to the microsoft account the networking works.

Did I understand that you have a Linux computer on your network? How is that done? When I turn on my Linux box, I see my windows workgroup but the computers are not listed. I use Ubuntu-Mate and the desktop is really good out of the box. I wish My Linux box could join the network also.

 

[Tim Barker]

Hi Tim, thanks for the reply. I am interested in all of the connections you are talking about. It will take me a day or so to digest all that you say. However, I have fixed my problem.

When I set up my computers, I used the same user name and password for all of them. However, I also signed up with a microsoft account, i.e. (e-mail address removed). Now some of my computers are signed up with microsoft and others are not. When I turn on the computers, on the welcome screen, some have (e-mail address removed) and others my user or account name. I think that I should have tried to log on to some of the computers with the (e-mail address removed) user name and others with my normal user name. I changed all of my computers to be a "local account" and now everything seems to work. I still don't understand all the details but with all computers on "local account" rather than logging on to the microsoft account the networking works.

Did I understand that you have a Linux computer on your network? How is that done? When I turn on my Linux box, I see my windows workgroup but the computers are not listed. I use Ubuntu-Mate and the desktop is really good out of the box. I wish My Linux box could join the network also.

Sounds like a solution to your problem. Not to mine, though, as I do not have a Microsoft a/c (at least I didn't think so). I have always logged on as a local user and still have this strange problem that splits the physical network and the wireless network in my setup. I'm still convinced that it is the gateway box rather than the network that is causing the problems as the software was updated around the time the problem started. One of the problems with the Microsoft update schedule is that the user has little control over when an update occurs so it is not possible to wait for a period and check whether things work properly before updating.

On Linux, yes, several mostly running Raspbian although I do have the odd Ubuntu USB stick for trying to save disks etc. Shouldn't be a problem getting to share across the network as long as the Linux box is running samba. Check with the Task Manager first and see whether you have smb and nmb running as tasks. If not then you may need to add the samba and samba-common packages then restart. It may be necessary to modify the /etc/samba/smb.conf file for your network configuration (ie whether a server or not...) and possibly the /etc/network/interfaces file to set up DHCP, gateway, IP address et al.

Given this thread appears to have been solved probably worth indicating this on your post. If you need any further help let me know and I'll try to...

 

[Tim Barker]

Further to the problem I was having I have noticed that the problem seems to be solved by utilising the route add command in a DOS box with administrator privileges.

route add -p 192.168.x.y 192.168.x.z

where "192.168.x.y" is the IP address of the PC/item I have been tryin to connect to and "192.168.x.z" is the IP address of the network gateway. The "-p" option is to make the route permanent. This does make sense but I cannot see why Windows cannot work this out itself with the other routing in the table ie

destination 0.0.0.0 gateway 192.168.x.z

which does exist already. Surely this means access all IP addresses using this gateway.

Anyway having added the physical addresses of the other physically attached PCs and the printer I now seem to have permanent access to all of them even after rebooting.