Question Home network shares and other devices on the network

[tinpanalley]

I've got my desktop sharing specific folders. This is mostly to access video and audio from tablets and cell phones on the home network. But I'd like my laptop, on Wifi, to see the document network shares just to avoid using onedrive all the time. The shares are there and active on the desktop with no password, I don't see why I can't use them.
What have I not got set up right, do you think?

 

[Tech Junky]

Well, personal networks should have a hidden SSID and that knocks out the kids next door.

Starbucks is PUBLIC and FW should be in use in that situation.

Hackers can be anywhere and it doesn't make a difference where your IP registration is based / named though picking high profile business / govt networks is easier to do a lookup on. There's plenty of idiots though that just scan IP ranges looking for open / responsive ports though just as well.

 

[sdifox]

Well, personal networks should have a hidden SSID and that knocks out the kids next door.

Starbucks is PUBLIC and FW should be in use in that situation.

Hackers can be anywhere and it doesn't make a difference where your IP registration is based / named though picking high profile business / govt networks is easier to do a lookup on. There's plenty of idiots though that just scan IP ranges looking for open / responsive ports though just as well.

Hidden SSID means nothing. MAC filtering is useless as well.

 

[mxnerd]

With Windows firewall on, you will at least be notified that some program is trying to punch a hole and make outgoing traffic, whether legit or malicious.

And as sdifox has said, hidden SSID & MAC filtering is useless if you know how to, both can easily beaten.

 

[Tech Junky]

Which goes back to my initial statement about if someone wants your data they will get your data.

Even air gapped PC's have the potential to get hacked if someone infects them with an external source. How much effort and cash you throw at reducing the potential exposure is up to you or the organization.

 

[tinpanalley]

Thanks again for all the help, guys.
I go in on the laptop to access the desktop via the network and now, new issue, it only sees my desktop as a media server. Goes into Windows Media Player. All share settings are correct.

 

[Tech Junky]

@tinpanalley

Probably something to do with the firewall blocking access to the shares. Check the desktop settings and disable / try again and see if it's cleared up.

 

[tinpanalley]

@tinpanalley
Probably something to do with the firewall blocking access to the shares. Check the desktop settings and disable / try again and see if it's cleared up.

Not making a difference. Ok, so I'll have to look into my ISPs router/modem and see what level of firewall protection it offers. @sdifox do you have any clue whether the Bell HomeHub4000 is safe to run on its own without Windows' firewall?

 

[sdifox]

Not making a difference. Ok, so I'll have to look into my ISPs router/modem and see what level of firewall protection it offers. @sdifox do you have any clue whether the Bell HomeHub4000 is safe to run on its own without Windows' firewall?

Realistically you are fine with just the HH4000 firewall. You should be able to share files in your LAN even with windows firewall on though. May just need to provide credentials.

 

[JackMDS]

You can Unplug for few minutes the Router from the Inerent connection. Then disable the Firewall on the two to share computers and see if sharing gets enabled.

 

[tinpanalley]

Realistically you are fine with just the HH4000 firewall. You should be able to share files in your LAN even with windows firewall on though. May just need to provide credentials.

I was having trouble deciphering which controls kept Windows Firewall running for outside connections and which controlled LAN activity. I'll study further.

UPDATE: Just turned off the Firewall altogether just to see what the laptop would see. Still nothing. Sees the same things it did before, and the desktop only as a media server. However, interestingly, when I type the computer name into file explorer or into a run command (\\NAME) it does bring up the shares. Why does File Explorer not just show them on its own in the Network section?

 

[mxnerd]

Read the article a bit. Computer Browser service does not always work and I think there are new services to replace it, but still doesn't always work.

What's the Microsoft Computer Browser Service?

The PDC is also responsible for connecting to its primary Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) server every 12 minutes to obtain a list of all the DomainName

petri.com

Some say WIndows 10 incorporate mDNS (Bonjour, https://developer.apple.com/bonjour/) protocol from Apple since 2019 H1. But I have no idea.whether it works.

You can download & install it on Windows machines see if it helps.

下載 - Bonjour Print Services (Windows) - Apple 支援 (台灣)

Bonjour Print Services for Windows 讓您利用 Bonjour Printer Wizard，從 Windows 電腦偵測、設定有 Bonjour 功能的印表機。

support.apple.com

==
If you don't have a Windows Server running DNS/WINS
Better setup an always on DNS server on Linux or an NAS device running DNS (also could be Pi-Hole if offered as an APP) to serve your LAN.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pi-hole+dns+server+

==
Also try shut everything down, then re-start devices. Router being the first.

 

[JackMDS]

Usually it involves Permission and security setting.

Scroll to the End of the pic and try to set where the red line point to, turn off password.

Reboot both computers after this change.

This to

 

[tinpanalley]

where the red line point to, turn off password.

Ahh.. ok, well, I can't do that because the SMB v3 sharing I have set up for music and video on a Rpi in the living room has to have password sharing enabled.

 

[tinpanalley]

Read the article a bit. Computer Browser service does not always work and I think there are new services to replace it, but still doesn't always work.

I will read that, thank you! Is any of this network fidgety-ness ameliorated by running a Linux distro instead of Windows on the laptop? Or will the Windows desktop still cause problems?

 

[JackMDS]

Ahh.. ok, well, I can't do that because the SMB v3 sharing I have set up for music and video on a Rpi in the living room has to have password sharing enabled.

You can still try, at list for short time. If it work it might a Step forward.

 

[tinpanalley]

You can still try, at list for short time. If it work it might a Step forward.

I appreciate the help but if you knew the chore it was to get SMB v3 to work with our Rpi setup you'd understand why I don't want to do anything to mess it up now that it's working. It's made all SMB shares easier in fact, the RPi, our Sonos system, everything.

 

[mxnerd]

Well, I have to admit I'm totally lost on this Windows computer browsing stuff after being off fields several years. Embarassed assuming many things.

I used to work in a WIndows domain environment running Active Directory, along with Ｗindows DNS / WINS / DHCP running, it seems to me Windows peer to peer should work like server to client, it's not!

the local DNS I talked about probably only work for IP<>name resolving, it has nothing to do with computer browsing using Windows Explorer. Don't expect you can use Explorer to see the Windows network properly, ever. Just use the name to access

I setup 2 machines on a virtual network segment, one win10, one win11 . Win10 can see itself and Win11. Yet Win11 can't see itself but can see Win10. I even turned off the firewall on both machines.

Even NBTSTAT command on both machine coludn't list compuer names properly on the network.

I was able to access shared resource via \\pcname\sharedfolder though.

The reality is Windows network browsing only works sometimes.

Win11 machine




Win10 machine



So do you really need to setup a local DNS server, you probably don't unless you want to do whole house ad blocking.



Pi-Hole on DietPi

 

[sdifox]

I was having trouble deciphering which controls kept Windows Firewall running for outside connections and which controlled LAN activity. I'll study further.

UPDATE: Just turned off the Firewall altogether just to see what the laptop would see. Still nothing. Sees the same things it did before, and the desktop only as a media server. However, interestingly, when I type the computer name into file explorer or into a run command (\\NAME) it does bring up the shares. Why does File Explorer not just show them on its own in the Network section?

Try this

Network Computers are not Showing Up in Windows 10/11 | Windows OS Hub

I have received several emails from readers asking for help in resolving the problem of displaying computers in a network environment on the latest Windows 10 and 11 builds. Indeed, there…

woshub.com

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