Configuring Network Storage in Explorer after upgrade from win7

I have a LAN with 3 Pc's all running win7 connected. The LAN switch also connects the internet modem and 3 network attached stores for various data types (media, backups) that - because of the LAN - are independently accessible from any of the PC's. All of the NAS devices are mapped into windows explorer on each PC for ease of use: using standard copy and paste methods to get files from on-PC to NAS, or vice versa, just worked. But the NAS devices had to be visible to explorer on any PC when explorer opened for that to happen.

This topic revisits one I raised some months ago concerning configuring the LAN from a clean win10 install, and I abandoned the effort because the reply detail was simply inadequate to use, and follow up questions were not answered. Maybe the forum experts thought I was just dumb, but not answered. The further details below will explain that. I am hoping that this time there will be a more complete response, in detail.

Upgrading to windows 10 from 7
method 1 - the MS preferred way - an in-place upgrade on the desktop machine. This carried over all the NAS settings in windows explorer, and under win10, I could access the NAS devices as I previously had. The internet was also available.

HOWEVER altho win 10 ran, this method broke my video studio editing applications, and as I use these extensively, on a daily basis (apart from windows , the email package and a browser, the most used applications on the machine) this method wasn't acceptable.

method 2 - a clean install. I know from other Video Studio users that a clean install runs the video studio applications successfully. So I tried the clean install approach. And this method completely disconnected the upgraded PC from any of the network stores on the LAN. The internet via the LAN was available.

And in this condition, I could not, NOT find a way to configure the NAS stores so that they could be even seen by explorer, let alone function as mapped drives. Everything I tried had missing steps, questions about this or that went unanswered. But I know it can be done under win10 because the in-place upgrade method had it just right. So, not acceptable, reverted win7, where it all works fine.

Trying again: configuring networked storage under win10
Is there a detailed procedure for configuring a LAN-based network storage device so that it can operate as a mapped drive in windows explorer???

Are you using home group on 7 or work group as HG is no longer in Windows you should be able to map drives via \\pc ip\sharename

Thanks to you both for replies.

First, 2 visuals: a diagram of my LAN connections, and a screenshot of what the NAS connections looks like in explorer, and the mapped drive panel that got them there: both attached.
And in explorer configured this way, I can copy and paste files between any drive/folder on the PC, to any drive/folder in the NAS units, without any UAC interference with the action. Easy: what I want to do when I try to upgrade to win10 again, for the 4th time.

The PC candidate for upgrade is the desktop - the laptops are to old to be worth the effort and frustration, even tho they still run fine. And over 3 tries at upgrade, I know the hardware works fine on win10: it's win10's handling of the apps, printer and external environment (the NAS) that caused the heartache.

Second, for Samuria
AFAIK, I'm using home group in windows 7. And yes, I found out the hard way that HG isn't in w10 now, since April 2018. The MS answers consultant I mailed with at the time was pretty damning about that, but it happened. One of those frustrating experiences that contributed to the abandoned (after 3 tries the impact was different in each case, including many many efforts at driver regression et al trying to fix various problems with apps under win10; breaking the NAS connection in a clean install was the last straw and I reverted to win7) upgrade I mentioned.

So since you mention mapping works via \\pc ip\sharename exactly how would I do that (details in steps please).

Third, for Caledon Ken
Configuring a LAN - meant mapping the LAN-attached NAS devices (see the LAN diagram) in a PC so that they appeared in the explorer drive/folder listing, and could be used in the same way that an on-device store was used. Configuring them meant mapping each one as a network drive using the tool option in explorer, see screenshot of how and what the result was.

That tutorial was the one I tried to use last time. It wasn't explicit enough to describe a procedure that fitted what I wanted, seemed very focussed on sharing between computers. And to do that of course any sharing between computers means they both have to be live and in reach of each other. Not a realistic condition in my circumstance, which is why I opted for an NAS approach originally; with every device on the LAN continually powered, it gave the attached PC's independent access whenever they were used, as previously noted. In the tutorial, an NAS did not seem to relate, yet many use them. But I tried option 1. And then, none of the options was detailed enough to follow step by step to give an end-result. Thus the questions I mentioned, and the request for specifics in this query.

So rather than try to explain what went wrong last time, please describe how that tutorial fits what I have and want to do. And if it doesn't, what would?

Update
I made an oopps selecting an outdated LAN diagram, could not see a way to delete it, so just added the current one: dated 1 Dec 2019 with 3 NAS devices.

In Post No. 2, Caledon Ken advised checking to see that SMBv1 is enabled on your clean Windows 10 install. Go to add/remove features and make sure that SMBv1 Client and SMBv1 Server are both checked. Make sure that "automatically remove" is not checked.

Windows 7 has SMBv1 enabled by default. I think your upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10 kept SMBv1 enabled. SMBv1 is not enabled by default in a clean installation of Windows 10. To me, this is the most likely reason your Desktop behaves differently after an upgrade than it does after a clean install.

JackHughs

Hi Berton,
You seem to have similar - if more complex - LAN setup compared to mine. so how did you get win10 to map the NAS as drives in explorer???

Hi,
Berton's commentary is exactly what I have in win7/ in mind for win10; however, when I was trying to do that with the tutorial and win10 installed, nothing I did worked. And questions I asked went unanswered . . . .
And that may still be the case . .
For example, I asked earlier in this thread which of those tutorial cases fitted the situation I outlined, and there are 9 options to choose from. No answer so far.
In my earlier attempt, I chose option 1. Was not sure that it fitted because the text says "this option needs to be done on each win10 PC ..." which isn't really the case, but I got as far as step 4, and as a win10 newbie asked where I could find the Function discovery items listed there. That Q was not answered.
Re-reading the tutorial, it looks like "connect to LAN attached stores" is just not a case addressed in that document. But it's evident that there is a way. So, what other way - documented - is there ?