Windows 10 Local Network Not Showing NAS or Shared Drives?

[adey2k]

Hi, Im hoping i might be able to find an answer to this dilemma here, because i have just about tried everything and nothing works! My problem is that my Local Network using Windows 10 Pro, cannot see any of my Locally Shared Computers or Drives, or NAS Drives. Nothing. I cant even get the IP Address to show up in File Explorer now, as I get nothing. I have a dual-boot computer that is also running Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu Linux., both of those OS's CAN SEE EVERYTHING??!! So Why, Oh Why.., can I not get Windows 10 Professional to see any of my Local Area Network?? I can PING the IP Addresses of the shared computers and the two NAS Drives., and I get a nice and easy four hops and there it is.., both of them.
But I just cannot see any of Shared Drives on my other two computers, or my two shared NAS Drives when using Windows 10.
The Router is a BT Router, and is running fine. I have tried to assign both DHCP and STATIC IP to all, but still cannot get Windows 10 to work with my LAN...., ANY IDEAS as to what I might be able to try next??
You help with this IS GREATLY APPRECIATED! :-

 

[Grogster]

Welcome to the wonderful world of W10 networking. I find W10 networking to be one of the worst there is - only MS know why.
As you point out, Linux sees everything, and that has also been my experience in similar situations.

If you are trying to talk to the NAS boxes or shares using Network Neighborhood, you are probably wasting your time - it is a total dog for letting you connect to anything on the LAN. Again - only my 2c and experience, but.....

Have you tried MAP NETWORK DRIVE, and mapping your NAS boxes to a local drive letter instead?
This is how I have all my NAS shares setup.
Your NAS boxes or shares MUST NOT have any spaces in the name - W10 will refuse to see them.
Ex: MYNAS is valid, MY NAS is not, and W10 will refuse to talk to the latter or even see it most of the time.

In some extreme cases if W10 simply refuses to see anything, I have had success by using the full path INCLUDING the IP address of the NAS or share using Map Network Drive.

Example:

1) Open Explorer file manager
2) Click THIS PC
3) Click COMPUTER menu on the menu-bar at the top
4) Click MAP NETWORK DRIVE
5) In the FOLDER textbox, enter the FULL path to the share.
6) Make sure there is a tick in RECONNECT AT SIGN-IN, then you don't have to do this again

An example of the full path(step 5) would be something like: \\192.168.1.100\MYNAS\SHARE

A typical Linux path would be something like: \\192.168.1.100\MYNAS\mnt\sda1

But I feel your pain - W10 networking can be a right royal pain in the posterior.

 

[adey2k]

Welcome to the wonderful world of W10 networking. I find W10 networking to be one of the worst there is - only MS know why.
As you point out, Linux sees everything, and that has also been my experience in similar situations.

If you are trying to talk to the NAS boxes or shares using Network Neighborhood, you are probably wasting your time - it is a total dog for letting you connect to anything on the LAN. Again - only my 2c and experience, but.....

Have you tried MAP NETWORK DRIVE, and mapping your NAS boxes to a local drive letter instead?
This is how I have all my NAS shares setup.
Your NAS boxes or shares MUST NOT have any spaces in the name - W10 will refuse to see them.
Ex: MYNAS is valid, MY NAS is not, and W10 will refuse to talk to the latter or even see it most of the time.

In some extreme cases if W10 simply refuses to see anything, I have had success by using the full path INCLUDING the IP address of the NAS or share using Map Network Drive.

Example:

1) Open Explorer file manager
2) Click THIS PC
3) Click COMPUTER menu on the menu-bar at the top
4) Click MAP NETWORK DRIVE
5) In the FOLDER textbox, enter the FULL path to the share.
6) Make sure there is a tick in RECONNECT AT SIGN-IN, then you don't have to do this again

An example of the full path(step 5) would be something like: \\192.168.1.100\MYNAS\SHARE

A typical Linux path would be something like: \\192.168.1.100\MYNAS\mnt\sda1

But I feel your pain - W10 networking can be a right royal pain in the posterior.

Hi, thank you for your reply, much appreciated
I did grit my teeth and persevere with this and managed to find a work-around, although I have had to step-up my home network security / VPN in order to do this, but quite simply., I have gone into the Network Adapter Properties and I have added the 'Reliable Multicast' and 'LLDP' Protocols., and I have been able to continue using the NETBIOS Default Settings within WINS after disabling NETBIOS/IP and and trying other settings after a number of reboots., all within the Network Adapter Properties.
Believe it or not.., and after a simple reoot, "All Working., Visible and Drives Safely Mapped.", and whats more is, that each reboot / start-up's are okay as all drives continually reappear as they should do.
So, my new question would be..,
Why Oh Why., would Microsoft simply Take Away (even not bothering to try and improve..), the 'Easy Networking Protocols' for the Basic Home Network User in the new Windows 10??!?
It makes absolutely no sense to me!
It is like my old Teacher once said to the class all those years ago.., "Microsoft are the only organisation in the whole world who say,
'If it ain't broke.., let's fix it anyway!!'"..,
- Windows 7 & even Windows 8.1 Networking all work without having to go through any of this!!...., go figure?!
- Windows 10?? = 4-out-of-10 thus far for me!!

Anyways., Thanks Again for replying

 

[Grogster]

Hiya.

Another thing that MS did recently that broke a lot of old servers and NAS boxes, was to disable SAMBA1 in one of their many updates, as SAMBA1 has some security issues. That instantly made many NAS boxes and older servers totally inaccessible. You could re-enable SAMBA1 deep down in one of the plethora of settings, but it really should have been done differently IMHO. I would have had the update generate a pop-up telling the user about the security risks of running SAMBA1, and a simple 'Do you want to disable SAMBA1?' kind of question. But MS just did it without asking. I had to fix quite a few of those issues.

It was not without just concern that MS disabled SAMBA1, but the choice should have been the users - not just having MS do it without asking. All my NAS boxes use SAMBA2 anyway, so I was not affected and W10 continued to see those cos they were not SAMBA1, but I did get a lot of calls from people still using older SAMBA1 NAS boxes etc.

I guess it is a bit of a double-edged sword. If they didn't disable things or protocols that are now seen as a security risk, people would be blaming MS for that, but when they do, people blame them for that also.

I've had WIN7 and WIN8/WIN8.1 machines in the past, and I totally agree with you. Something major changed with the way networking was supposed to work in W10, causing all these problems, as 7 and 8 networking worked just fine without any of this hoop-jumping you have to do in W10 quite a lot of the time.