Yet again issues with network sharing between PC and Laptop

kevvyb · 22 Feb 2022

Hi

Having just set up a new PC and for the first time got to grips with SSDs and how bitlocker works with TPM, and now the tedious old problem of network sharing issues again.

I worked through everything here (MS article) on both PC and laptop. I had even seen the shares displayed properly on the laptop, once this morning. I have been turning network sharing on and off again to prompt a reconnection. Initially nada, both machines showing their own shares but still not seeing the others.

I have just checked again all the settings again (as on link above) to make sure that none have 'slipped'. There were a couple of folders on the laptop which had not taken the share settings; this was rectified. All the rest was as per the linked article.

Restarted both machines - still nada, both still showing their own shares but not the shares from the other device!
And at some point, hey presto, the laptop seeing the desktop share.....BUT still not the other way around.

Questions

Should Function Discovery Resource Publication, having been set to 'automatic', now be showing status 'automatic (trigger start)?

What should I check now to get the PC seeing the laptop shares? Can anyone give me any other ideas that I have not already tried? Is this just a problem with Window File Explorer?

If anyone can offer any more ideas would be very grateful.

Samuria · 22 Feb 2022

Window's assumes a PC is on 24/7 and it takes 20mins+ for a PC to be discovered in the mean time you can connect via IP is \\292.168.1.20\sharename. Pinging the PCs can often kick it into life

kevvyb · 22 Feb 2022

Samuria said:

Window's assumes a PC is on 24/7 and it takes 20mins+ for a PC to be discovered in the mean time you can connect via IP is \\292.168.1.20\sharename. Pinging the PCs can often kick it into life

Thank you. I know it can sometimes take a little while with network sharing but this has been sittign all afternoon, still no laptop share showing on the PC...

So if I understand correctly I use power shell to input command: ping \\292.168.1\HXXXXXX-CXXXXXX ....? Entering that gave "Ping request could not find host".

Do I have to identify the IP address or is that a generic IP address that should work for this sort fo thing, don't understand how if that is the case.

Compumind · 22 Feb 2022

Samuria said:

Window's assumes a PC is on 24/7 and it takes 20mins+ for a PC to be discovered in the mean time you can connect via IP is \\292.168.1.20\sharename. Pinging the PCs can often kick it into life

You mean 192.168.1.20 (Router) - Typo.

MisterEd · 22 Feb 2022

To speed up a computer showing on your network you can run a batch file on a computer called FDResPub.bat

The contents of FDResPub.bat are:

Code:

net stop FDResPub
net start FDResPub

Computers I have run this batch file on appear on the network within seconds.

Someone on these forums came up with that suggestion over two years ago.

As long as you know you can ping a computer I have found that network shortcuts work also. For example:
Computer name on network: Tornado
Shortcut to computer: \\Tornado

That way you don't even have to know or care what the computer's IP addresses are.

You can create network shortcuts on your desktop and click them anytime to access a computer on the network. Note I normally use the Network in Windows Explorer to access the computers on my network. However, for whatever reason sometimes a computer doesn't show up. I used the network shortcuts as an alternative way to access these computers.

One last thing. I realize that 192.168.1.xxx is probably the most widely used local IP address range. However, a person shouldn't just assume that. For example, my ISP uses 10.0.0.xxx

Compumind · 22 Feb 2022

Hi again.

The Discovery Process in W10 is ridiculously slow at times.

FWIW.

kevvyb · 22 Feb 2022

Compumind said:

Hi again.
The Discovery Process in W10 is ridiculously slow at times.
FWIW.

Just found that out.....just after my last post, next look at laptop and there it is, PC share...just took about 5-6 hours, not much good when I need to do a quick sync between machines before travelling.

But thanks all for your replies.

- - - Updated - - -

MisterEd said:

To speed up a computer showing on your network you can run a batch file on a computer called FDResPub.bat

The contents of FDResPub.bat are:

Code:

net stop FDResPub
net start FDResPub

Computers I have run this batch file on appear on the network within seconds.

Someone on these forums came up with that suggestion over two years ago.

As long as you know you can ping a computer I have found that network shortcuts work also. For example:
Computer name on network: Tornado
Shortcut to computer: \\Tornado

That way you don't even have to know or care what the computer's IP addresses are.

You can create network shortcuts on your desktop and click them anytime to access a computer on the network. Note I normally use the Network in Windows Explorer to access the computers on my network. However, for whatever reason sometimes a computer doesn't show up. I used the network shortcuts as an alternative way to access these computers.

One last thing. I realize that 192.168.1.xxx is probably the most widely used local IP address range. However, a person shouldn't just assume that. For example, my ISP uses 10.0.0.xxx

More great info, thanks. I will give those a go and will no doubt be back with questions!

Compumind · 22 Feb 2022

MisterEd said:

One last thing. I realize that 192.168.1.xxx is probably the most widely used local IP address range. However, a person shouldn't just assume that. For example, my ISP uses 10.0.0.xxx

FYI -

10.0.0.1 is more commonly seen in business networks than in home networks where routers normally use addresses in the 192.168.x.x series instead
However, at-home devices might still be assigned the 10.0.0.1 IP address, and it works just like any other.

HTH.

kevvyb · 22 Feb 2022

MisterEd said:

To speed up a computer showing on your network you can run a batch file on a computer called FDResPub.bat

The contents of FDResPub.bat are:

Code:

net stop FDResPub
net start FDResPub

Computers I have run this batch file on appear on the network within seconds.

I am assuming then that his something do with my question in post 1.... re setting Function Discovery Resource Publication then going back to find the setting is actually Automatic (Trigger Start). Presumably the trigger didn't happen for me for 5-6 hours and the batch file you supplied does exactly that?

MisterEd · 22 Feb 2022

kevvyb said:

I am assuming then that his something do with my question in post 1.... re setting Function Discovery Resource Publication then going back to find the setting is actually Automatic (Trigger Start). Presumably the trigger didn't happen for me for 5-6 hours and the batch file you supplied does exactly that?

Making changes to network related Windows Services is a common answer to this question. I have found that to not always work. The batch file effectively does what the Windows service is supposed to do. I have decided to stop worrying about what Windows is supposed to do and do what it takes to have file sharing work for me.