Question RESOLVED . . . [sort of . . ] NEED HELP -- Serious home network crisis -- Windows Update borked my Media PC and local file server

[BonzaiDuck]

Here's my setup. I have two front-end client PCs -- that is, they are workstations and I flip back and forth between them but mainly use the one which has the ESU installed for Windows 10. The other front-end system is set up with Windows 11. It currently recognizes the Win 10 system and there is peer-to-peer file-sharing -- but I've noticed now that it is only one way: the Win 11 system sees the Win 10 system and its files, but not vice versa as previously.

These two PCs and a laptop were all set up on my home network, peer-to-peer. A third PC, just like the first two, had been set up as a "media PC" with a Stablebit Drivepool storing piles of movies and music. All machines recognized each other. About a month ago, I had trouble with the laptop that wouldn't see the any of the other three systems, and I had to tweak NTLM -- which had somehow become disabled. The laptop was originally a Windows 11 system. The other PCs had been Windows 10 boxes until the big crisis with everyone struggling to get ESU or upgrade to Windows 11. So one of the two front-end systems -- workstations I'll call them -- was upgraded to Windows 11. All of the hardware except for the laptop fell short of Win 11 hardware requirements by being the generation just before the first eligible hardware. I had no trouble upgrading them, and they have gone through feature updates with no problem. In fact, the Windows Update successfully installed feature upgrades "behind my back".

So the inventory -- the Media PC and home file server (peer-to-peer) with stablebit Drivepool was updated to Win 11 as was one of the other desktop PCs, leaving the ESU-enabled Windows 10 on my most-used "daily driver" where I'm typing this thread and post.

Now I suddenly see that the Win 11 workstation sees shared folders on the Win 10 system, but the latter doesn't anymore see folders on the Win 11 workstation. And suddenly, after January 29 and an apparent feature update to the media PC which I wasn't watching, it couldn't be accessed by either of the other two desktops, and couldn't "see" either of them as well.

So far I discovered that part of the problem was Win 11 converting 48-to-56 bit encryption to 128-bit. Changing the Media PC (file server) back to the older encryption suddenly makes it visible to the two client/workstation desktop PCs.

However, this update to the Media PC somehow borked my Stablebit Drivepool. I have a plea for help posted to their customer support -- I know their tech-guy over many years if he's still there, and expect some assistance sooner or later. Luckily, I had backed up the drive pool to a large capacity 3.5" hard drive. But I want my Media/file-server system back and running again as it had before. I can't even play movies on my Sony Bravia because the freaking Drivepool disappeared after January 29.

I"m an old man now of 78. It's imperative that I keep these systems networked with mutual file-sharing in a private network. I've had two family members die in the last four years after 8 years administering eldercare. I"m just worn out, as I go forward to clean up the house and dispose of the property of dead family so I can use their rooms again. I haven't got time to troubleshoot this stuff.

Any help or assistance will be much appreciated. I say -- "Effing Microsoft and their goddam Windows 11" -- why did they DO this to me?!!

 

[esquared]

@JackMDS
Maybe he can advise.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Let me add another observation. All of these systems had been set up with local accounts, using variations of my name with the same password common to all the desktops and the laptop. Then, some weird shit happened with my Microsoft account, and most of the PCs want me to sign in with a PIN -- which works OK. But I no longer have a sense of how accounts exist on all the systems such that one recognizes the other. I don't really know if there's a problem, but now they all seem to recognize my Microsoft account, even as the "Users" (me with name variations) all seem to get logged in on the separate systems.

All this SHIT that MS has done with the new OS has now got me very confused.

 

[bba-tcg]

1. Make sue the network on each PC is set to private, not public. 2. Make sure network discovery is enabled on each PC. 3. It sounds like that at least at some point you had a common username and password saved for access on each PC. Unless you've deleted those credentials, they're still active, which is good.

Check these settings out and see how much difference it makes.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

1. Make sue the network on each PC is set to private, not public. 2. Make sure network discovery is enabled on each PC. 3. It sounds like that at least at some point you had a common username and password saved for access on each PC. Unless you've deleted those credentials, they're still active, which is good.

Check these settings out and see how much difference it makes.

There has been progress. I changed the encryption back from 128 to 48-56 whatever. I had to do this on all the Win 11 systems. Now, all the desktop PCs (including the Media PC) see each other. But file/folder access "lacks permissions" going from the Win10 to Win 11 desktop, and from the Media file server to the Win 10 shared folders. If I can restore the Drivepool, I think the other systems will access it again.

As for your recommends, yes -- I've always limited to Private networking, commonly recommended. Network Discovery was one of the first things I checked, and it's turned on -- all systems.

I'm going to fix this! With help maybe, but I suspect I can get back to normal in a couple days if I persist. I just have a bunch of other things going on. For instance, a new LG 55" TV arrives tomorrow, and I have to configure it for wireless network access and then test it. Once done, my handyman will arrive with a wall mounting bracket, and there will be all sorts of wonderfulness.

 

[bba-tcg]

As long as you have wifi, the TV should be a piece of cake.

I mentioned the Private vs. Public because both Windows 10 and 11 will default to, and revert to, Public at the slightest hint of network change.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

As long as you have wifi, the TV should be a piece of cake.

I mentioned the Private vs. Public because both Windows 10 and 11 will default to, and revert to, Public at the slightest hint of network change.

OK! I think everything is returned to normal. There may be some minor corrections to fiddle with, but I've verified a few things:

a) I can now access the Win 11 desktop workstation from the Win 10 (ESU) desktop workstation, as opposed to the access from Win 11 to Win 10. This all arose from MS's stupid control over how you use or continue local accounts versus the Microsoft Account. I probably shouldn't have enrolled Windows 10 in the Microsoft Account, but it eventually happens that way -- everybody knows and many try to circumvent it -- some successful and some not.

b) The biggest obstacle was to "loss" of my Stablebit Drivepool when Win 11 (on the Media PC/file-server) updated to a feature update behind my back. When it did that, it pre-empted the Stablebit software from recognizing the pool drives and presenting the drivepool to the network and other machines. But basically, the solution was the same as what I needed to do last September with that feature update. Users are advised to uninstall the Stablebit software, completing the Windows Feature Update, then reinstalling Stablebit. So I've done that, there were no revealed disasters or difficulties, the Drivepool came up running as Drive G:, the shares were still effective, and now the other two workstations see the Shared Folders.

And of course, now that the Drivepool is restored, I can play my movies, music and "cheesecake" porn. I can once again sync my important business and finance data, my archived PDF tax records etc. between workstations and Media-PC/file-server.

So I'm sorry for drawing everyone's attention to this, but when things happen maybe twice over 7 months, an old fart may not easily recall what had been done to rectify the earlier problem.

And now I can get started building the Rocket Lake system with 2022 parts to upgrade the existing "ineligible" hardware on one of the workstations. Something to keep an old man busy and focused as things seem to slowly unravel with income interruptions and other unhappiness.

I'm developing plans to scale back my deployed hardware -- most people only have a desktop, laptop and cellphone. I had this household LAN serving three people with as many as five PCs total. An old habit from my teaching days. I just like the redundancy and much-reduced risk of losing files.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

[I double-posted -- tried to delete here.]

 

[BonzaiDuck]

OK -- the last minor difficulty. The Media/file-server would not connect to one of the workstations to reveal shared folders on latter. I started playing with "local" account IDs and passwords, but "no cigar". Then I tried my MS account and password -- and now that system is visible in addition to the other one.

WHY COULDN'T MS LEAVE THINGS ALONE SO THESE LOCAL ACCOUNTS ARE STILL WORKING? MAYBE THEY ARE, MAYBE FOR SOME REASON I TRAINED A SYSTEM TO LOG ON WITH MS ACCOUNT AND PWD INSTEAD . . .

I DIDN'T NEED for the server to log on to these machines and recognize THEIR shared folders. If the workstations are logging on to the server, then access to the server is all that is routinely needed -- for synching, for uploading, changing or deleting data to the drivepool. But I wanted all the previous connections I had used to work.

So . . . done that. I suppose . . .