How I Fixed My Missing Network & Homegroup Computers

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  1. Posts : 43
    W10 Home 64Bit
       #11

    Amazing find. Welldone!! Thank you!!


    @KRL, great bit of trouble shooting there. I'll never know how you managed to figure that out! All the correct order etc., when even MS are clueless. (Well MS have been pretty clueless and incompetent when it comes to issues affecting us. Of course their data collection works fine, unless some registry tinkering etc HeHe.)

    Anyway, just wanted to say thanks as this stupid issue affected one of my 3 windows 10 PCs. I don't use homegroup, just networking so skipped the homegroup bit. Didn't even need to reboot. Bang! Working perfectly! Tested, and waited several hours before posting in case it came back. (It hasn't).

    I know you are a modest chap, but just thinking of that, let alone getting it for all the right services, in order, is the best bit of trouble shooting I've ever heard of. (For Decades!). :)
      My Computers


  2. Posts : 43
    W10 Home 64Bit
       #12

    KRL said:
    @ Rassilon - Hi. Did you get KB3118754 yet? That one apparently has networking fixes.

    I wish MS would let us know what is in the updates. Everything is blind now. What is the BIG SECRET why we can't know what updates are being installed. It is so not right. Imagine if you went to the doctor and he wouldn't tell you what medicines he was putting in your body and he said just close your eyes and swallow. LOL This is so absurd that 1 Billion people can't know what is going on. Geez. No other business could do this to customers.
    You are right. And what's more, windows ten is far more sensitive than our bodies even. Really, seriously, what the heck is wrong with MS!!
      My Computers


  3. KRL
    Posts : 70
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #13

    Thank you AndyG. It's great when we have powerful forums like this one so those of us who like to figure out and solve problems ourselvses can all collaborate and not be dependent on developers and customer service techs like most users are. I've always been fascinated by the engineering of computer hardware and software and have learned most of my tech skills and knowledge by experience over the past 40 years of tinkering, and taking things apart to figure out how the components all work. Very appreciative I was blessed with a scientific and analytical techie mind.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 43
    W10 Home 64Bit
       #14

    Slip Jigs said:
    Just upgraded to Win 10 on main PC, have posted in SevenForums but this is my first post here. I thought I’d give this thread a go before starting a new one.

    My issue is this: I set up a homegroup on main PC with Win 10 following the wizard and used all default settings. On second PC, running Win 7, went through the wizard there – joined the homegroup without a problem. Then when trying to access it, it can see the shared folders but nothing happens when trying to open any of them. No error message, the circle spins for about 30 seconds and that’s it.

    When setting up the homegroup, it includes music, pictures, videos as shared as the default and the option to share the Documents folder. Are these the actual folders under my profile, the libraries or the public folders? If I get it to work can I create specific folders to share in the homegroup or specify the public folders?

    Before upgrading the main PC to 10, both PC’s were on 7 where I created a secondary user account on main PC with password, and shared public folders. Second PC was able to log in the map public folders with no problem.

    So before trying all these other things, I want to make sure I’m doing the basics right. There are just too many variables and I don’t have a handle on how it’s supposed to work. There’s the method I just mentioned, libraries, folder sharing, setting who to share with, sharing libraries, public folders, sharing settings, advanced sharing, permissions, and so on.

    Web searches take me to Win 7 or 8 set ups which are almost the same, so those haven’t helped much.

    Any help appreciated!
    About folders, the public ones are shared by default in homegroup.

    But I can't answer much more as I gave up on homegroups several years back. I find just setting up a traditional network is easier and much more flexible. (Without the variables too, and no codes to input. But you can assign unique passwords to each PC within your network if you wish.

    All you need to do is go to any folder and choose to share with everyone. I've done that for years. In the network and sharing center you will find three sets of simple permissions. (Private, public, all.) Turn on network discovery, and turn off password protected sharing in each one. This is the most open and easy way to share anything read and write with any version of windows after XP.

    One VERY important thing. Firstly ANYONE unless you specify permissions and passwords anyone only on the LAN will be able to access everything you have shared,and even alter it, send things to your PC, almost anything. This is obviously a potential security nightmare. If you configure for max flexibility ( anyone inside the network can look at, copy, alter and send things to every PC.) It is essential, can't empasize enough ESSENTIAL your network is behind a good modern router with built in Hardware firewall. You can check how secure it is by going to GRC, they will try to get through your firewall. (don't worry, that site is legit.) There should be no problems as pretty much any hardware based firewall is strong. Far stronger than software (like windows) based firewalls for example. I have done this with 5 to 6 PCs for about 4 years now. Totally secure. And the only people who can access my network are people phsically at one of the PCs. In my case that's just my wife and I. So it's simple.

    Many people I suppose would feel a bit nervous about opening everything up like that. The good news is you can leave the password protected sharing on, and you can easily choose to make files readable only (it's nothing like remote). But if you trust everyone who has access to your PCs plus routers firewall is on (should be by default, but must be checked.) then no one outside of the router (network) will even know the PCs exist. The router won't respond to pings so it's essentially invisible on the wide internet.

    It's all very easy to do, and self explanatory so it's an option for you. You may choose various levels of internal security.
    If your routers firewall is configured properly, and it passes the GRC ( a website) tests your network is invisible to anyone outside the router.
    Before homegroup was introduced (it was done so as old style home networks were tricky to get right.) This was the only full internal local area network option. But now, or since windows 7 networks are very easy to setup. Give you control about what, with whom and password or not for all PCs linked to your home LAN. But it's easier than the now, in my opinion, obselete homegroup.

    One more security thing. This has to be clear, sorry for repeating myself. I use a wired internal network. If I was wi-fi I would not leave files without password protection and would assign access to a particular users name. Maybe overkill, but there is a tiny possibility that your rotten but tech savvy neibours could pick up your wireless signals. Wouldn't do them much good if names and passwords were assigned for each PC.

    Dam, I written too much and made it sound tricky. It's not, Easier and much more flexible than the horrible homegroup system. It's logical and self explanatory all the way now. Once more. Your LAN must be invisible to anyone outside of it. This is easy to check and shouldn't be an issue, but I have warned you enough about security to be comfortable recommending it. Especially as you can choose how little or how much internal LAN security is setup. WAN - outside you physical router or gateway MUST be 100% secure. I also make sure it's not just secure but invisible. It's easy, really, but any doubts and stick with the clumsy homegroup. A homegroup is by default more internally secure than a totally passwordless LAN like I have, but both should and must be behind a hardware based modern router's firewall.

    Oh, did I mention to check your routers firewall makes your network invisible? Ahem...
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 42
    Windows 7, 8.1, 10
       #15

    How about without a Homegroup?


    All of my experience with company networks is to avoid Homegroups completely. The environment has always been easier to understand and control that way. I was encouraged by this thread but it seems focused on doing the opposite.

    So, I'd like the answer to the original question but without Homegroups being used.
    I'm working with networks that combine Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 in a peer-to-peer network with a workgroup "WORKGROUP" and some computers only see a few of the complete set (in the "Network" list). Another computer is missing everywhere. Some computers show up if you access them first and then go away later. This isn't at all what's wanted. So, how to fix?
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 7
    Windows 10
       #16

    Great Fix Thanks


    Problem has baffled us for days. This was a quick simple fix that worked just fine:)



    :)
    KRL said:
    After the Win 10 Threshold 2 Upgrade, many users are having Networking issues, especially not being able to see other PC's on the network in File Explorer's Network panel and Homegroup panel.

    I have 3 Laptops on my network and encountered this issue and have spent several days tweaking all sorts of settings and trying many solutions I saw online. Finally one worked and now I can see all 3 Laptops in each panel in the Network section and all 3 Laptops in each panel in the Homegroup section. So everything is back to functioning properly.

    This is what worked for me:

    Open the services menu by clicking start and then typing 'services.msc' and pressing enter.

    Look for the following services in the list:

    · DNS Client
    · Function Discovery Provider Host
    · Function Discovery Resource Publication
    · Peer Networking Grouping
    · HomeGroup Provider
    · HomeGroup Listener
    · SSDP Discovery
    · UPnP Device Host

    1. I reset each of these settings FROM "Manual" TO "Automatic" one by one.

    2. Right after doing each of those changes, I RESTARTED each service.

    3. On two of the Laptops I had to LEAVE the Homegroup and REJOIN it.

    4. I shut down all the Laptops and restarted each back up one at a time, starting with my primary Laptop which was the creator of the Homegroup.

    Everything is displaying perfectly now!

    The only other change today was I got this Cumulative Update which updated Win 10 on all 3 Laptops.

    Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3118754)

    I'm not sure if that KB3118754 update had a part in helping fix things or not, but the update did install before things started working again and I did these changes above after the update.

    Win 10 is definitely quite a bit of work to maintain compared to prior versions of Windows, and you have to be really tech savvy to know what to do when things stop functioning. I can't imagine how users who don't have tech mind skills are handling it.

    Good Luck to those having this networking issue. There are a ton of users experiencing problems, so Threshold 2 definitely has serious networking bugs.

    ___________________________________________________

    ** BE SURE TO ALWAYS SET A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT BEFORE DOING ANY CHANGES! AND ANOTHER RESTORE POINT WHEN YOUR PC IS WORKING AGAIN! AND ALSO EXPORT YOUR REGISTRY SO YOU ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP OF THAT TOO! **
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 1
    Windows 10
       #17

    KRL said:
    After the Win 10 Threshold 2 Upgrade, many users are having Networking issues, especially not being able to see other PC's on the network in File Explorer's Network panel and Homegroup panel.

    I have 3 Laptops on my network and encountered this issue and have spent several days tweaking all sorts of settings and trying many solutions I saw online. Finally one worked and now I can see all 3 Laptops in each panel in the Network section and all 3 Laptops in each panel in the Homegroup section. So everything is back to functioning properly.

    This is what worked for me:

    Open the services menu by clicking start and then typing 'services.msc' and pressing enter.

    Look for the following services in the list:

    · DNS Client
    · Function Discovery Provider Host
    · Function Discovery Resource Publication
    · Peer Networking Grouping
    · HomeGroup Provider
    · HomeGroup Listener
    · SSDP Discovery
    · UPnP Device Host

    1. I reset each of these settings FROM "Manual" TO "Automatic" one by one.

    2. Right after doing each of those changes, I RESTARTED each service.

    3. On two of the Laptops I had to LEAVE the Homegroup and REJOIN it.

    4. I shut down all the Laptops and restarted each back up one at a time, starting with my primary Laptop which was the creator of the Homegroup.

    Everything is displaying perfectly now!

    The only other change today was I got this Cumulative Update which updated Win 10 on all 3 Laptops.

    Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3118754)

    I'm not sure if that KB3118754 update had a part in helping fix things or not, but the update did install before things started working again and I did these changes above after the update.

    Win 10 is definitely quite a bit of work to maintain compared to prior versions of Windows, and you have to be really tech savvy to know what to do when things stop functioning. I can't imagine how users who don't have tech mind skills are handling it.

    Good Luck to those having this networking issue. There are a ton of users experiencing problems, so Threshold 2 definitely has serious networking bugs.

    ___________________________________________________

    ** BE SURE TO ALWAYS SET A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT BEFORE DOING ANY CHANGES! AND ANOTHER RESTORE POINT WHEN YOUR PC IS WORKING AGAIN! AND ALSO EXPORT YOUR REGISTRY SO YOU ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP OF THAT TOO! **

    I benefited immensely from this post and I hope the benefit will not be undone by another routine Windows 10 update.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 2
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
       #18

    Not permanent?


    I tried the same fix and it worked however when I reboot any of the issue devices, the problem returns and all of the services listed in the fix are 'running' and show automatic start. However, if I restart the Function Discovery Resource Publication service, the missing computer reappears on the network map. This again is a Windows 10 issue as on my two remaining Windows 7 devices, the devices that are 'missing' on the Windows 10 maps are not missing on the Windows 7 maps.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 1
    10
       #19

    I fixed the issue of sharing out my wifi connection to lan. I added , Microsoft KM-TEST Loopback Adapter and was able to share out from wifi to lan
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 7
    Windows 10
       #20

    Same Issue


    rzhj8s said:
    I tried the same fix and it worked however when I reboot any of the issue devices, the problem returns and all of the services listed in the fix are 'running' and show automatic start. However, if I restart the Function Discovery Resource Publication service, the missing computer reappears on the network map. This again is a Windows 10 issue as on my two remaining Windows 7 devices, the devices that are 'missing' on the Windows 10 maps are not missing on the Windows 7 maps.
    My problem also returned after a few days. Finally fixed by paying particular attention to the home network set up. After doing all the settings as listed and properly setting up the home network using the desktop as the primary computer I have not had an issue despite many re boots. As well as doing all of the above I have used network advanced settings as follows:
    Private- Network discovery ON, Automatic set up of network connected devices ON, File and printer sharing ON Allow windows to manage home group connections ON.

    In Guest or Public I have network discovery turned OFF File and Printer Sharing turned OFF

    In All Networks I have Public Folder Sharing turned OFF, Use 128 bit Encryption ON and Password Protected Sharing turned ON

    I can now access through both homegroup or network

    Hope that helps
      My Computer


 

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