Win10 computer unable to see Win 7 PC /fileshares on network

Netman · 25 Nov 2021

Apologies in advance if this topic has been covered. I have searched the Forum and I cannot seem to find an answer. I have ahd a good look at the (excellent) tutorials here but their focus appears to be on the file server end.

I have just purchased a laptop with Win10 installed and I need to add it to my home office network. It needs to communicate with a Win7 file server. There are 2 other Win10 desktop machines on this network. So, 4 computer in total on this network.

Windows versions are:

Win 7 fileserver - Win7 Pro V6.1 Build 7601 SP1
2 Win10 desktops - Win 10 V20H2 Build 19042.1348
Win 10 laptop - Win10 V1803 Build 17134.1304

The network is wired (CAT 7) through an internet gateway/router. The new laptop connects to the LAN via WiFi through the gateway.

The 2 Win10 desktops successfully communicate with the Win7 fileserver and can 'see' the Win7 filserver by name and have full access to the shared files. Win10 desktops cannot 'see' the laptop by name and cannot ping it successfully.

The new laptop cannot 'see' the Win7 filserver by name, but can ping the it successfully. The laptop cannot 'see' the Win10 desktops by name but can ping them successfully.

All machines are configured to be members of the same workgroup.

Given the above I have tried to get the laptop to see the PCs on the network but to no avail. I have attempted fixes by modifying and activating relevant services but also without a positive result.

Could anyone provide some assistance, as I there is something I have obviously missed ?

Thanks in Advance

dalchina · 25 Nov 2021

Sharing is relatively fragile in my experience in Win 10- and stupidly frustrating to set up.

That said, given Win 7 is involved, have you enabled SMB1?

Share Files and Folders Over a Network in Windows 10
Enable or Disable SMB1 File Sharing Protocol in Windows

Build 1803 on your laptop is significantly old. Note that MS made significant changes to search from build 1903 and 2 of them damage or reduce search functionality (from file explorer's search box).

Cortana is now, to all intents and purposes, dead, and you'll get Edge Chromium if you upgrade.

Samuria · 25 Nov 2021

First job is goto media creation site and update to the latest version as it's out of support and a security risk and may solve the problems

Netman · 26 Nov 2021

Guys,
Thanks for the helpful tips.

I upgraded the Win 10 OS on the laptop... no success.

I looked at enabling SMB on the Win7 fileserver but needed to upgrade .NET, WMF, Powershell (it is V2). I figured there had to be a simpler way, especially since the existing Win10 machines can 'see' the server.

6 hours later.. after searching the 'net....... I got fed up and began to understand this was a name resolution issue. My simplistic thinking took me eventually to the 'hosts' file.

So.... I know it is a hack, but it worked. You guessed it, I added this line to the hosts file:

<server IP addr> <server NAME> #force naming of server IP address

It is crude, but it worked.

Any comments please, kind or cruel

dalchina · 26 Nov 2021

Glad you got it working- any trick or approach that works is valid!

Some set up shortcuts to devices which can be 'seen' but where files cannot be accessed in the normal way as a share - I had to do that after upgrading this PC to 21H2 which finally killed networking with my other (kept on build 1903).

(That was SMB1 on your Win 10 machine of course... which I'm told may be also necessary for some but not all NAS devices. The disadvantages of SMB1 are:
a. an extra service runs
b. may take 20mins + for new devices on the network to be seen
c. regarded as a security risk

Netman · 26 Nov 2021

Thank you fellow members.