Windows 10 Home Networking Access From Windows Explorer

I have 4 computers on my home network using Windows 10. I like to be able to see all 4 computers from all 4 computers using Windows Explorer and have always been able to do that with relatively little problems until Windows 10 came along. Every time Win 10 updated it would cause some problem with permissions and they would have to be changed again in order for me to see the 4 computers from an instance of Windows Explorer.



8 to 10 months ago things once again changed and I could no longer use Windows Explorer to see all the computers even though all permissions were set as they needed to be. I could map a path to other computers and then access them from other computers but still could not see them in Windows Explorer except the instance that mapped path opened.



After many frustrating months of trying someone came up withy a solution which involved the services of "Function Discovery Provider Host" and "Function Discovery Resource Publication." When I set them to Automatic and running all was once again well and I could see all computers from all computers. Well, Win 10 once again made an update that ruined that again. Even though all permissions are set correctly and these two services are still set as mentioned above, I can no longer see all the computers from Windows Explorer. I can still map a path to them so none of this makes sense to me.



I did not make all these above changes alone. I had a lot of help but now the suggestions seem to have dried up. So the point I am at now is if I stop and then restart "Function Discovery Resource Publication" manually or with a simple .bat file with Administrator permissions, I can once again see the computers. I am looking for a solution so that stopping and restarting that service isn’t necessary.



To complicate matters even further, I have 2 laptops in this network. 1 of them is always seen by my main computer whether it is on wireless or connected through an Ethernet cable. The other is only seen by my main computer if I stop and restart that service mentioned above while it is on a wireless connection or if it is hooked up through an Ethernet cable.





I should probably mention, I do not use and don’t want to use passwords on any of my computers and all are set to recognize the only account on them as an Administrator’s account.



Any suggestions to make this network work as it used to and as I want it to again would be greatly appreciated. Just to be clear; what I would like is to just turn the computers an and they are visible to all other computers in a Windows Explorer window. Thanks

 

I managed to put a stop to all this nonsense by using fixed IPs on each system and inserting an entry for each machine in the hosts file, such as -

192.168.0.10 \\<machine 1>
192.168.0.20 \\<machine 2>
etc

Repeat this on each machine

Of course, all the other network settings have to be correct on each machine, and there are quite a few! I guess you were using Homegroup previously?

 

I have my network named Workgroup, a hold over from Xp days. Also the person who I buy my computers from advised me not to use Homegroup and we have always setup the network manually.

Thanks for your advise; I will contact the person who sets up my network and see if he can do as you advised. I just am not that versed in all this to feel comfortable making such changes on my own. Thanks so much.

 

Wasn't there an SMB issue with Win10? That stops netbios names from working.
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-access-files-network-devices-using-smbv1-windows-10

 

Never had an issue........probably media from the win10 haters lobby group

 

You sound like my twin HDL , I have essentially the exact same setup as yourself as well as a couple of Linux distro's for good measure and since changes made by the ever helpful "NOT" MS the best I can ever do is get the pc's to see who else is on the network but nothing but nothing I do will let me do all that wonderful file sharing backing up etc etc. I really was not bald or goofy looking <-- till this problem arose but am thinking of doing harm to some hardware if I can't get this sorted soon.
I will be reading every word of this thread and anything associated with great interest.
I would be very interested in hearing from anyone re crashing all network settings on all machines and starting afresh if it will enable me to get them all communicating again. Thanks for your posts guys, without help from people like your good selves people like me would be stuffed into asylums I fear.

 

Hi Cocosoft......you have been a member here for around 7 years now and its great to see you decide to share your first post.
Albeit, this thread is now over a year old so, any issues regarding Windows 10 networking have no doubt been sorted and patched.

The main issue is that most users do not supply no-where near enough information on the actual issues they are experiencing, whether that be Networking protocols, System specifications (hardware), third party software installs, registry pans, etc etc.
Most seem to believe that there is some sort of magic wand that the helpers here must posses, and its simply a matter of requesting it be 'waved' over their devices in order to fix them.

Rather than having you admitted to an asylum or destroying your setup, perhaps you could request any help with supplying a detailed run down of your platform and expected outcomes.
This would be a great start.

At MG's, the impossible can be performed on the spot, however miracles take a little longer.

Welcome to Majorgeeks and we look forward to your continued participation.

Rep

 

My problems continue and all I have been able to do is learn to live with them. NOTHING I have tried to make Windows Explorer work as it used to and as I think it should now. I also stopped using "Function Discovery Provider Host" and "Function Discovery Resource Publication" because they, too, stopped working as they should on one of the computers. Go figure.

In any case briefly here is how I learned to get around these problems and live with them.
1. I downloaded and use a Right Click add on to File Explorer called MyFolders - http://m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/myfolders.html. It adds a "Right Click" MyFolders to Windows File Explorer.
2. I use MyFolders to create paths to wherever I want to send a file to on any of my computers. It saves that path so it can be used anytime you want to use it.I also use it to send files to my external drives.

The above is the easy part once you have it done. Getting those paths can be a bit tricky at times. So here is how I managed to get all the paths created in MyFolders.

1. Map a path to a folder on another computer, I usually map it to the C: drive. I also make sure all the permissions are set correctly and I DO NOT use passwords.
2. My major need is to send files from the "Documents" folder on my main computer to either external drives or to a folder on another computer.
3. Mapping a path to the C: drive allows me to open the "Documents" folder on the main computer I used to map that path.
4. Once I open that "Documents" folder, I "Right Click" the file I want to place on the computer I just mapped a path to and choose MyFolders.
5. Once MyFolders is active I choose "Folder" and use MyFolders to do the mapping for me.
6. MyFolders will save that path so anytime you want to send a file to that same folder it will be available whenever you once again choose MyFolders even though you haven't had to map a path to that network computer again.

What I am trying to say is once a path is mapped in MyFolders it can send a file to another computer whether or not that computer is visible in File Explorer or not as long as all the permissions are set properly.

Now here is why I quit beating myself up and just decided to live with Windows 10 File Explorer as is. I know all my permissions are set as they should be. I also have heard it said that once you get a computer programmed to do a certain task it will do that task repeatedly. I no longer believe that. I have 4 computers on my network and I turn them all off at night. There are some days when after booting them up, ( I am talking about from my main computer) in File explorer I see my main computer and 1 other computer. Then there are times I see my main computer and 2 others. Then there are rare times I see all my computers. Go figure. That is why I quit trying to make it all work as Microsoft should have in the first place. Again, even it I cannot see a computer in File Explorer, MyFolders will send a file to them. If I want to drill down to some folder I do not have a path to in MyFolders I just use the path I mapped to that computers C: drive and all is well.

Hope this is of some use to you.

Hope this helps you.

 

I have 4 Win 10 systems on my home network which has been trouble free for about 4 years. The settings I use are those given here -
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/111783-share-files-folders-over-network-windows-10-a.html.

 

I think you may be one of the lucky ones. I just checked and all my computers are setup exactly as Option One from your link says they should be. Yet I still have the problems I started this post about. I do thank you for the link and will save it for future use.

 

If you are confident about your settings then it's a quirk in your system. Recommend you running Tweaking.com Windows Repair. It can take some time but you could start by just doing the network repairs. The program is highly effective.

 

Thank you for the suggestion. I just followed the link and am a bit apprehensive about running that program since it will reset many of my settings, which I sure don't remember what all of them are. If I just did the network repair then I probably would be able to get those settings back, especially using the tutorial, if necessary.

Just thinking out loud here, or in this case, in print. Does it seem strange to you that whatever is the cause of my problem it would be affecting all 4 computers the same? Never had this problem when using Win 7 but now all my computers are running Win 10 ver. 1909. This network problem started happening when Win 10 came into the picture for me. It used to be that every time Win 10 updated permissions had to be reset and the password protection, again, had to be disabled. That is not so much the case lately but viewing my network computers is still not reliable.

 

It's time to grab a system image of each system. You can then revert to the image state in a few minutes if you need/want to. I use Macrium Reflect or, of late, Minitool ShadowMaker.

 

Thanks for the links.

 

OK got to ask because I have never used anything like these before. Is this supposed to be used in case something goes wrong if I should try running that Tweaking. com Windows Repair program?

It's not that I do nothing as far as backing up parts of my computer. I do only back up the data files my programs create because the programs, themselves, can always be reloaded by some means and if I have the data files saved I can reload them to my machine. In addition, also certain programs, for instance one called "search everything," are also stored in folders of their names and can easily be retrieved from my external drives and reloaded. I use 3 external drives for "my backups" for added protection so I never fear losing anything important. That's the way I have always done it and why I am not at all familiar with anything like the programs mentioned above.

 

That's the immediate reason, yes. In a wider context imaging of your system is the ultimate life and time saver, whether the user suffers an uncorrectable system error, has a drive failure, gets a serious infection, or needs to back out of a bad install. Restoring an image completely removes your current operating system and everything associated with it and replaces it with the system as it was when the image was created.

Newcomers to imaging sometimes get deterred by the complexity of the user interface so I am now generally recommending MiniTool ShadowMaker as it has such an easy to use interface. You do need a suitable external drive to store your images and you need to create the rescue media cd or pen drive for restoring images.

Imaging is not an essential but gives you a guarantee that you will be able to recover your system in short order whatever may befall it.

 

Thank you very much for that reply.