Troubleshooting Home Network Folder Sharing Issue (Win10)

Zarathuztra · 31 May 2019 at 17:46

Issue: I'm trying to share a folder on my home network server PC, but nothing is showing on any of the other network PCs.

Background: We have 3 PCs on our network, 2 daily use PCs and one that is act as server and we send files to the folders that are shared on it to back up stuff. This server PC was running 2 HDDs and the main HDD with the OS failed. So I had to get a new drive and decided to set it up with a small SSD for the OS only and getting a 2nd HDD to act as storage. I previously had Windows 8 on the now dead drive. The SSD has Windows 10 Enterprise installed. After getting windows installed, I tried sharing the folder from the good HDD that didn't fail and still has a bunch of our data on it.

The folder shows that it is shared, and I manually went in to make sure it shared to "Everyone (read/write)."

For my personal PC, I chose use this time to put a fresh Windows 10 Enterprise install. So it is running the same windows version. When go to the Network folder in my windows explorer... nothing. I don't see the server PC shared folder.

Network Discovery is ON (private & public)
File and Print Sharing is ON (private & public)
Password Protected Sharing is OFF

What I have tried:
turn off firewalls on both PCs (nothing)
Unshare and reshare (nothing)
Turned ON password protected sharing (nothing), then back OFF (nothing)
After realizing I had both networks set as public, switched to private (saw the shared folder... went out, came home... it's gone)
Turn IP6 OFF (nothing), turned back ON (nothing)

Any other things I can try?
I have been at this for over a week. Last resort is to reinstall Windows on the server PC (but I'm beginning to think that may not resolve it). Before that, I'd like some feedback to help further troubleshoot this issue.

Zarathuztra · 3 Jun 2019 at 06:00

Thanks for the feedback.

@APM I have tried to remove the permissions and then restore them, but it was unsuccessful. When I check the files, on the share tab of properties window. The advanced sharing window doesn't have the box checked for the files, but it does for the folder that contains the files. (is this abnormal?)

@Quartz I'm not using a domain controller. Just running windows 10 enterprise as is and trying to share the folder. I checked the link, but they have different items in their control panel than I do, "Homegroup" doesn't seem to exist in my control panel, nor when I search for it. [Click Start, Run, and type in \\servername\sharename opens up the folder as it should when on the host pc that is sharing the folder. When I attempt the same from the other pc, I get a popup, "you can't access this shared folder because your organization's security policies block unauthenticated guest access" I tried running this fix (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tPcsb2Dkk0) and it made it so I could access using run application, but it still does not show up in my network tab.]

Something else I noticed.. when I right click "This PC" in File Explorer, and go to properties, and click "Change Settings" for the "Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings section" ...if I select "Network ID" on the Computer Name tab, it has "This computer is part of a business network" selected, and if I select "This is a home computer" it has me restart, but nothing seems to change.

Zarathuztra · 4 Jun 2019 at 01:53

@Quartz I added the credential, nothing seems to have changed, the network list is still the same, the PC and printer still aren't showing up.

Zarathuztra · 4 Jun 2019 at 15:51

Quartz said:
A credential won't help anything show up; it just makes it possible to connect.

OK gotcha, I was actually able to access (read/write) using the run program and inputting \\servername\folder before adding the credentials. Not sure if that means anything. (printer is still inaccessible just doesn't show up as an option for printing)

Is there any way to get the printer and PC visible on the Network page of file explorer as it should be?

Zarathuztra · 4 Jun 2019 at 16:47

@Quartz I'm on wired LAN connection for both PCs. at work currently so I'll have to confirm those settings when I get home tonight.

Zarathuztra · 5 Jun 2019 at 14:29

@Quartz LLDP is ON (checked) for both; TCP/IP setting for both PCs is "Default"

Zarathuztra · 6 Jun 2019 at 00:34

I enabled on both. No change from that. I don't know specifically what to look for on the router end, the only thing I've ever bothered with on that was adding in some port forwarding but beyond that it's on the default setup. I haven't altered any DNS settings on PC or router.

Zarathuztra · 6 Jun 2019 at 12:56

DNS server is 192.168.1.1

OK... suddenly they are there. I guess patience was needed after all. I need to confirm this is the same after I get back from work and then check that my wife's laptop can also see this. But hopefully this has solved the issue.

@Quartz Thanks for the help with this.