Home network - can't get all PCs to see each other

MisterEdF · 17 Feb 2020

Sigurd said:

That will confuse MrEdF (and me) even more as he got his to work switching to Public and mine half works on Private.
Watch this space. Will have time for further work on it tomorrow - thread not closed!!

Just to clarify. My network was setup as PRIVATE from the getgo when the WIN install asked for the choice except the OTHER setting for PRIVATE that is shown at 1:11 of that Youtube video on both my PC's was set as PUBLIC (I never changed it and they were both brand new WIN10 reinstall). Evidently that setting has been my problem through multiple WIN10 installs over the last few years, Once I changed THAT setting to PRIVATE on both PC's all was fine. I NEVER had issues streaming video off my PC to my Apple TV using PLEX MEDIA SERVER even when I was having problems connecting the 2 PC's. In fact my netowrk showed every other device (TV, Apple TV, soundbar, Xfinity DVR's, Printers, Amazon Firestick .... just not my 2 computers.

xaccell · 17 Feb 2020

could you post screenshots of the errors??? We don´t know if it is a networking issue or a permission issue.

Barman58 · 17 Feb 2020

I have a suggestion for the next test, there is one system that is not reachable at all from any other system.

For testing purposes, switch off the windows firewall on that system and reboot, see if that changes anything

If it works then the firewall is causing the issue and so the ports used by networking need to be opened

the following are required

Microsoft file sharing SMB: User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports from 135 through 139 and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) ports from 135 through 139. Direct-hosted SMB traffic without a network basic input/output system (NetBIOS): port 445 (TCP and UPD)

Full instructions for opening ports are here How To Open Firewall Ports In Windows 10 | Tom's Hardware

Sigurd · 18 Feb 2020

could you post screenshots of the errors??? We don´t know if it is a networking issue or a permission issue.

There is nothing really to take a screen shot of. File Explorer simply shows or doesn't show the computer in question and either shows the files if they are accessible or shows the "Windows cannot access name of folder". Diagnose doesn't find anything. The only additional information on See details is "Error code 0x80070035. The network path was not found".
I'll try turning off the Kaspersky firewalls on all computers tomorrow and see what that does. If it helps I'll try the ports.

But ultimately the mystery seems to be that despite settings apparently being the same on all four computers which sees which one and which can access which one is almost random.

Investigation will resume tomorrow

- - - Updated - - -

Good morning all. Work delayed by lack of power this morning - better than the floods others in the UK are getting!

Now back on line and have got somewhere.
With Kaspersky Firewall on
A can see and access B and C, but cannot see D
B can see and access C but can only see A, but cannot see D
C can see and access B but can only see A, but cannot see D
D can see and access B and C but can only see A

Switching off Kaspersky firewall results in A becoming accessible to B, C & D but D remains invisible.

So as far as A, B and C are concerned I need to adjust Kaspersky. Not sure how as the reference to Tom's video doesn't cover Kaspersky but I'll figure it out.
The invisibility of D is a different issue I think. It is set to be visible on the network; in fact all the sharing and security settings are the same as the ones on the other computers.

Progress is being made!