How to get Windows 10 to see a router's USB-attached drive?

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Okies. I have an after-market router with a USB port. I have attached an external hard drive to it. On the admin page, it shows up fine. I gave it a name and it provides the host name and local HTTP addresses.

gsjKe5m.png

If I type the host name \\Jupiter into File Explorer, it doesn't resolve. If I try to map network drive, that doesn't resolve either. However, if I type in the HTTP address 192.168.1.1:8082 into Firefox, then it resolves fine and it shows the contents of the drive as a directory listing. So I think it's fine on the router-side, and it's something that I haven't set up properly in Windows. File and printer sharing is enabled and Windows can see my wireless printer on the network ok.

Back on the admin page (above screenshot), if I enable Media Server, then Windows can see the Jupiter drive, but the files/directories are separated into media folders (music, pictures and videos). I think that's normal behaviour for a media server. I just want the Network Neighbourhood option enabled so that I can see the drive contents exactly to how I'd see it if plugged in directly. I want write access as well.

Back in the olden days (20 years ago!) I would type in \\Jupiter and it would show up fine in Windows Explorer and I could map it to a drive letter. I think either Windows has changed or I have forgotten something. If someone could please signpost me, that would be great. I have tried googling Network Neighbourhood but it doesn't seem to be a thing any more.
 
Associate
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Have you tried mapping the drive using the IP address as it's likely that windows nowadays wouldn't know what to do with a generic access address like that as that is what I've had to do to map network drives that are connected to the router via USB (although not successfully since the router I was using at the time only supported SMB 1 which is no longer supported due to security issues).

If that doesn't work, then you might have to go spelunking through the routers settings to see if there are any options relating to network file sharing.
 
Soldato
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The performance of a drive connected to a router's USB port will most likely be so poor that it isn't worth bothering. There are exceptions, but they're rare.
 
Soldato
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Thanks for the answers guys.

The router is a TP-Link Archer VR2800. I'm not sure where to find out what SMB number I'm on, but it's a pretty recent and expensive router being £150. I bought it a few weeks ago as it was meant to have more features than an ISP-issued router and better coverage.

If I type \\192.168.1.1 into File Explorer, it doesn't resolve. Typing it into Firefox without \\ goes into router admin, as that's the normal IP address for a router. Typing http://192.168.1.1:8082 (so 8082 after it) will show the drive's contents.

The router knows what the drive is - WDC WD32 00BEVT-26ZCT, so it knows it's a Western Digital drive, 320GB (298GB visible). It's an old drive, but if I was able to get it working ok, I was then going to invest in a larger drive. I was hoping to use the router's USB port in principle. Its other purpose is for a print server, but I already have a wireless-ready printer on the network.
 
Caporegime
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The Amazon reviews seem to suggest that it only supports SMBv1 which is insecure and disabled by default in Windows 10. Maybe worth checking with TP Link support to get confirmation and then returning it if you need to use this feature.
 
Associate
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Have you added user accounts and indexes yet?

I have the much cheaper Archer C2 and set mine up as an FTP file server and can access it with either:

\\192.168.1.1\volume(sda1)

or

ftp://192.168.1.1/ (followed by the user login popup)
 
Soldato
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I think the fact Windows Explorer is not resolving the \\192.168.1.1 means it's not finding anything shared. So that means either

1) the assumption it only supports SMBv1 is correct and so Windows 10 won't find anything or..
2) while you have file sharing turned on, is there anywhere on the router you have to create an actual share name? You can't browse a server if there's not at least one thing to share on it I don't think. Most routers I've seen with this feature create a default share called USB or similar to point to the attached disk that would be browseable so I'm leaning towards point 1) being the problem.

If it were a user problem then I think it would give an access denied message instead of not resolving to anything.
 
Soldato
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Thanks again all of you :)

The user/share query - I did think about that but I had one set up already for a Raspberry Pi project.

BigT on SMB1 - that was it in the end! Turns out it's not a part of Windows 10 by default. I then looked in the control panel where you can add/remove Windows features (quite different from previous Windows version), and I was able to add a couple of SMB options in there. Rebooted, and then the Jupiter drive showed up in the computers section in the network. Then I was able to map it to a drive letter. I'll see how this goes, and if it is insecure as already mentioned, then I'm actually only using it for offloading big files onto there. It will be mostly for storing videos of myself and a friend recording our streamed gameplay of video slots (online version of fruit machines).
 
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