Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

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hlewton
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

Post by hlewton »

StuartR wrote:
20 Oct 2020, 21:48
All my computers run Windows 10 Home Version 2004
I will not enable SMB 1.0 because that is a very risky protocol which allows Wannacry and other viruses free access to the PC.
I have tried all the other suggestions in those links.
It has been turned on on my machines. I guess I better turn it off.
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hlewton
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

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StuartR wrote:
20 Oct 2020, 21:48
All my computers run Windows 10 Home Version 2004
I will not enable SMB 1.0 because that is a very risky protocol which allows Wannacry and other viruses free access to the PC.
I have tried all the other suggestions in those links.
As I mentioned it had been turned on on all my machines. I turned it off on all of them but I noticed on the ones with Windows 10 Pro there was an option, and it was turned on, of SMB Direct. I didn't have that option in the two with the Home version. Should I have still turned off SMB 1.0 on them since they seem to be very risky?
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JoeP
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

Post by JoeP »

From a Microsoft article (SMBv1 is not installed by default in Windows 10 version 1709, Windows Server version 1709 and later versions) - Start the "Function Discovery Provider Host" and "Function Discovery Resource Publication" services, and then set them to Automatic (Delayed Start).

NOTE: Microsoft recommends both services be set to "Automatic (Delayed Start)"
Joe

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hlewton
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

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JoeP wrote:
21 Oct 2020, 14:13
From a Microsoft article (SMBv1 is not installed by default in Windows 10 version 1709, Windows Server version 1709 and later versions) - Start the "Function Discovery Provider Host" and "Function Discovery Resource Publication" services, and then set them to Automatic (Delayed Start).

NOTE: Microsoft recommends both services be set to "Automatic (Delayed Start)"
Thank you, I will try that.
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hlewton

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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

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I am posting this here because I believe it is all associated one way or another.

Another problem I am having with my network is it keeps telling me my printers are off line and they are not. I have a mesh network and can see all devices that are connected to my network at any given time. My printers are all network printers and some of them are connected using an Ethernet cable. They are always connected to the network and they are also the ones that when trying to print to them say they are off line. A reboot gets them back on line. A reboot of the computer not the network. This is frustrating to say the least. Any ideas how to correct this because I shouldn't have to reboot each time I want to print to a certain printer.
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StuartR
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

Post by StuartR »

Can you 'ping' the printer when you have this problem.

Note the IP address of the printer (e.g. xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)
Open a command window
Type ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
What response do you get

Try doing this when the printer is working first, so we know that it does respond when all is good.
StuartR


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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

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StuartR wrote:
21 Oct 2020, 16:17
Can you 'ping' the printer when you have this problem.

Note the IP address of the printer (e.g. xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)
Open a command window
Type ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
What response do you get

Try doing this when the printer is working first, so we know that it does respond when all is good.
I could do this and I will try it but just let me say I know the printer is not off line like the error message I get says. There are 2 reasons I know it is on line: 1 my smart phone when opening up the mesh network app show it connected by an Ethernet connection; 2. # or 4 other computer show it active and are able to print to it.

Now also let me add, it is not always the same computers that have this difficulty. it seems to alternate and affect which ever computer it wants to. In addition the one that is my default and naturally gives me the most problems was worked on last week by me with Brother Printers support. She had me add a New Port using the Printer's IP address, which I did on all my computers. When this happens I check the printer's proprieties to make sure it is using that New Port and it always seems to be.

I'm not sure what a ping will do but I would be looking for it to say reply from that xxx.xxx.x.xx IP address, correct? I ask because I just pinged the printer's IP and got got it saying Reply from my IP address 4 times. 4 packets sent, Received 4 and lost 0. But this is when the printers is showing active, as it should always be.
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

Post by StuartR »

The purpose of a ping is to check that your computer is able to send packets to, and receive packets from, the printer.
If it replies saying no packets were lost then that is good, and shows that your issue is not a TCP/IP connectivity problem.
StuartR


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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

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StuartR wrote:
21 Oct 2020, 21:38
The purpose of a ping is to check that your computer is able to send packets to, and receive packets from, the printer.
If it replies saying no packets were lost then that is good, and shows that your issue is not a TCP/IP connectivity problem.
That is what I got but the printer also showed it was on line in the Devices and Printers option of the Control panel I will try the pinging the next time it fails to print and see what I get then. Thanks
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

Post by jolas »

This is something that worked for me, you may want to try it.

You will find this dialog box when you click the Configure Port button on the Ports tab of the Printer Properties.
UncheckThis.jpg
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

Post by hlewton »

jolas wrote:
22 Oct 2020, 00:02
This is something that worked for me, you may want to try it.

You will find this dialog box when you click the Configure Port button on the Ports tab of the Printer Properties.

UncheckThis.jpg
jolas first I want to say thank you and I'll explain why a little later but first I want to tell what happened today.

StuartR I tried the ping thing today. When I first turned my computers on, in Devices and Printers, it showed my printer was active and online. I did my normal updating of a couple files and copying them to my external drives and other computers. When I saw the message from Eileen's I decided to check its status again and it showed it was off line. I ran the ping and here are the results:
C:\Users\new user>ping 192.168.4.41

Pinging 192.168.4.41 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.4.41: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.4.41: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.4.41: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.4.41: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=255

Ping statistics for 192.168.4.41:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 2ms, Average = 1ms


I believe it shows all is supposedly OK with the TCP/IP as you previously mentioned but in this stage it will not print out without a reboot which was what I believed to be my only option.

Now the next thing I did after running the ping and before rebooting I read and followed jolas's suggestion. I unchecked that box and my printer snapped back on line and I could print from it without rebooting.

I hope you guys can make sense of this because I don't know enough about it to understand what is happening. However, I am going to uncheck that box on my other network printers and hopefully this will solve this part of my network problems.

Thank you both for the help.
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hlewton

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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

Post by StuartR »

SNMP is Simple Network Management Protocol. When you tick that check box the printer software expects the printer to respond to SNMP packets, and if it either ignores them, or sends back a status that the computer doesn't like, then you may well get the symptoms you describe
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

Post by hlewton »

StuartR wrote:
22 Oct 2020, 13:45
SNMP is Simple Network Management Protocol. When you tick that check box the printer software expects the printer to respond to SNMP packets, and if it either ignores them, or sends back a status that the computer doesn't like, then you may well get the symptoms you describe
Thank. I hope this works.
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

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I still have not found a solution to Windows File Explorer not seeing my network computers and believe me I've looked. I still have to believe it has something to do with Function Discovery Resource Publication because when I run my bat file on the other computers that first stop that function then restart it they appear on an open incident of Windows File Explorer on other computers. So if any other suggestions come along please let me know. Thanks.
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

Post by DaveA »

Give us a screen shot of the Network folder from within File Explorer?
I am so far behind, I think I am First :evilgrin:
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

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I just manually stoped and restarted Function Discovery Resource Publication on one computer, and this computer then appeared in the open Explorer windows on that computer and on a different one.

I closed the Explorer window and opened a new one, and the computer was still visible!

I then opened Explorer on a third computer that had not been used for a while and it could also now see the computer where I restarted the service.

More experiments to follow when I have time
StuartR


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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

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StuartR wrote:
23 Oct 2020, 16:53
I just manually stoped and restarted Function Discovery Resource Publication on one computer, and this computer then appeared in the open Explorer windows on that computer and on a different one.

I closed the Explorer window and opened a new one, and the computer was still visible!

I then opened Explorer on a third computer that had not been used for a while and it could also now see the computer where I restarted the service.

More experiments to follow when I have time
You're doing better than I then. I will attach a screen shot since DaveA asked for one but you're not really going to see anything I haven't already described.

The screen shot is from the computer named HDL-2020-PC. I ran my Function bat file on 3 other computers while having an open Windows File Explorer incident running on each of them. All the computers showed the other one that were not them after I ran that bat file. Some showed their own name, two didn't. In all cases on all the computers, once I closed that open incident of Windows File Explorer, none showed the other network computers when I opened a new incident.

StuartR mine used to act like you are describing before MS updates for ver. 1909, which I believe, started all my problems and installing ver. 2004 didn't correct it.


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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

Post by DaveA »

First of all I would quick running that bat file.
Shut down ALL machines.
Then fire up one at a time.
After they are all up and running, open File Explorer on all of them.
Do NOT do any thing else, have ONLY file explorer running, and expand the network on all of them.
At this point, can you see all of the other machines from each of them?

One other question, do you have pass worded user accounts logged in on all of these machines, they can be different user names?
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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

Post by StuartR »

I just rebooted this laptop. Before I rebooted it all of my computers had an explorer window open and they could see each other.
After rebooting the laptop it could see the other computers, but it could not see itself, and none of the other computers could see the laptop.

I stopped and started Function Discovery Resource Publication on the laptop and now all the computers can see each other again.
StuartR


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Re: Can’t See Network Computers In Windows File Explorer

Post by JoeP »

@StuartR,

Are both Function Discovery services set to Automatic Delayed Start?
Joe