Very unstable local network

Hi there,

I have a very small local network consisting of a desktop and a laptop both running windows 10 fall creator. The desktop is connected by cable to a router and the laptop connected via wifi. The desktop's file manager can see the laptop, but the desktop is not shown on the laptop's file manager. That is, sometimes the desktop is displayed, but other times it is not. In short, the network is very unstable. I have pinged the desktop from the laptop and the connection seems ok, and I have also pinged 127.0.0.1 to check the network card of the the laptop. Also fine.
I have run the Windows built-in trouble shooter to check on the network card. It can't find anything wrong with it . I have diagnosed the network itself. Same result nothing wrong. I have tried and tried, but it seems I can't find what is at fault here.

So what I am asking is this. When the network is down, is there anything I can do to sort of "wake" it up or do I have to wait till next time it chooses to connect the desktop to the laptop that is the desktop is displayed by the laptop's file manager.

oeivinr

Check how long the lease on the IP address's are in the router.

I had a similar issue every hour or so and found it was renewing the ip address every hour.

Other then that its a matter of rebooting all devices and changing the cable to the desktop.

I am having the same problem. Running 2 desktops running 1709 and 1 laptop running win7. Laptop will see laptop, but nothing else. Sometimes 1 desktop will see all 3 and the other will not see any and vice versa. I even did a clean install on mine and still does it.

I have static IP's for all 3 of our computers, but is done thru the OS, not the router. Does that make a difference?

I just had a similar problem but the fixed IP addresses didn't work for me. All worked fine as soon as I manually set enable NetBIOS in the TCP/IPv4 options for the network adapter on each PC. Also, check you are on a private network, using the same Workgroup name and that each PC is discoverable and file & printer sharing is on for all options under Advanced Sharing Settings. You need to give access to Everyone under both the Sharing and Security tabs under the file/folder properties.

Steve C said:

I just had a similar problem but the fixed IP addresses didn't work for me. All worked fine as soon as I manually set enable NetBIOS in the TCP/IPv4 options for the network adapter on each PC. Also, check you are on a private network, using the same Workgroup name and that each PC is discoverable and file & printer sharing is on for all options under Advanced Sharing Settings. You need to give access to Everyone under both the Sharing and Security tabs under the file/folder properties.

Been doing that for many of years now ever since win95. Tried the NetBIOS trick and it lasted for that day. Turned on computers this morning and back to the same way again. Something about the 1709 update that is resetting itself overnight.

topgundcp said:

The Router DHCP assign the IP to your PC. Not the other way around. In addition, it's easier to manage in the router than separately on each device.
If your Network configured correctly, you should not have to turn on NETBIOS.

Now, I've been reading that with the 1709 update, that MS broke the ability to network share. I've been doing network share for many of years now and never had an issue until the 1709 update.

topgundcp said:

The Router DHCP assign the IP to your PC. Not the other way around. In addition, it's easier to manage in the router than separately on each device.
If your Network configured correctly, you should not have to turn on NETBIOS.

I tried it your way with the static being on the router and not the OS and couldn't see anything at all in the network screen. I'm just going to put it back to normal and see if MS puts out a fi for it.