Network shares no longer visible in Explorer

ricecrispies · 28 Oct 2017

I have two machines: a laptop (Zebedee) and a desktop (Dougal). A couple of days ago I found that the network shares from both machines were no longer visible in Explorer on either machine. I noticed this after Zebedee (but not Dougal) had been upgraded to Windows 10 version 1709. Another reboot seems to have got the share from Zebedee working again (I can access it on both machines), but the same trick hasn't worked for Dougal.

On Dougal I have two shares: Users and Data (which is what I call my second partition). At the moment I cannot see either of them in Explorer unless I go into the Advanced Sharing settings for either one and disable sharing. Then Dougal appears in the Network tab of Explorer on Dougal only (i.e. not on Zebedee), but not as a "computer". Rather it appears as "unspecified". If I click on it I get to see and browse the folder for which sharing has not been disabled, and if I then re-enable sharing for the other folder I can see that too. However if I go back to the main Network tab, Dougal is no longer there.

How can I get Dougal's shares working again properly?

topgundcp · 28 Oct 2017

On both PC's. Open "Advanced Network sharing". make sure that under All Networks, the passwords on both "Turn off".

Right click on "Data" ->Properties->Security. Add "Everyone" user if not existed and set permission to full. Do the same for "User"

NOTE: Upgrade to 1709 will reset some settings back to default.

cereberus · 28 Oct 2017

I am not sure if this is a change but I today I discovered both pcs on my lan have to have a private profile as well for shared networks to be displayed.

I could not see a remote network in file explorer even though I could rdp to remote pc.

I spent ages checking settings, all looked fine. I was stumped, and then I realised remote pc was connecting with a public wifi profile, not a private one. I changed remote pc profile to private and bamm - it was now visible in file explorer.

ricecrispies · 28 Oct 2017

Thanks for your replies.

topgundcp, I don't understand why you recommend turning password protection off. Won't that just create a big security hole? In any case it's not turned off on Zebedee, and I can see Zebedee's share fine.

Dougal's share "Users" already gives permission to "everyone", but it's still not visible.

cereberus, Dougal is attached to the router via ethernet, and in any case I can't even see Dougal's shares on Dougal. I'm having trouble seeing how that could be due to its connection to the LAN.

ricecrispies · 28 Oct 2017

I have some more information. It turns out that Dougal's shares are there, but they are simply not displayed in the Network tab. If I put \\dougal in the address bar, I can see them. Is there a way to make them properly visible?

cereberus · 28 Oct 2017

ricecrispies said:

I have some more information. It turns out that Dougal's shares are there, but they are simply not displayed in the Network tab. If I put \\dougal in the address bar, I can see them. Is there a way to make them properly visible?

Being ethernet or wifi does not affect if profile is private or public.

How to change the Windows 10 network type from Public to Private - www.photosync-app.com

Check all profiles are set to private.

ricecrispies · 28 Oct 2017

It is already set to private.

johnpd · 29 Oct 2017

This is a known issue that appeared with the release of the original Creators Update in April. The Fall version did not fix it. Read the below forum thread that explains how people have tried to fix it, in most cases they were not successful.

Anyone else notice network issues with CU

The only temporary fix is what you found, entering the UNC name for the computer (\\computer-name) in the Network address bar.

JohnD

ricecrispies · 29 Oct 2017

Thanks for the info, johnpd. I guess I'll just need to be patient for the time being...

blueribb · 31 Oct 2017

I'm no network expert but from my experience with Kodi and Libreelec, I was told that Windows Network Browsing no longer works because SMB1 was removed. The new SMB2 + 3 require login and password credentials and the smb share path "may" require the IP address rather than the name. Example: smb://kitchen-pc (old) smb://192.168.1.7 (new)