Windows 10: file history and networked drives

I have a Win 11 Pro desktop Dell and Win 11 Home laptop HP and a Netgear router. I have a USB drive plugged in to the router, which Netgear calls a "network folder"; and File explorer on BOTH Win machines sees the drive and makes it available to use. But while File History on the HP offers to use a mapped network drive, it does not see the USB drive attached to the router. It only shows the Dell machine in the network. I could map a drive connected to the Dell machine but a I don't really want to set up another user on the Dell machine for this purpose only and b I don't want the HP ma

:)

 

File History drive

Hi Joseph,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Community.

I would like to inform you that if your File History drive has been disconnected for too long, or it doesn't have enough space to save temporary versions of your files. To continue saving copies of your files, you'll need to reconnect your File History drive.
Plug in your external File History drive or reselect your network. You can start a backup manually or wait for the next scheduled backup or reselect the drive. Here is the steps:

To manually start a backup

• 
  Open File History by pressing Windows key> type File History
  > Click on File History.
  
• 
  Tap or click Back up now.
  

To reselect your drive

• 
  Open File History by pressing Windows key> type File History
  > Click on File History.
  
• 
  Tap or click Select drive.
  
• 
  On the Select a File History drive page, tap or click your current drive or network location, and then tap or click
  OK.
  

Hope it helps. Let us know if you need more help and we'll be glad to assist.

 

How to stop File History on the old drive and start File History on a new drive?

I use the external drive
for File History and have a lot of information there. I want to restart the File History process on a new drive and place the previous File History drive off-site.

Please suggest the steps to stop File History on the old drive and start File History on a new drive.

 

File History - Cannot "Add a Drive" again after selecting "Stop using drive"

pizzle101,

There is a work around.

Create a new folder in the existing drive or you can select the drive that you need and share it on the network and give permission to everyone and then follow these steps

• 
  Enter File History in the search box, and then tap or click
  File History.
  
• 
  Tap or click Select drive.
  
• 
  On the Change your File History drive page, do one of the following:
  
  • 
    Select a network location, tap or click Add network location, browse to or enter a location, tap or click
    Select folder, and then tap or click OK.
    
  • 
    In the network location \\127.0.0.1 and select the shared drive.
    
• 
  When you're asked, tap or click Yes to copy all of the versions of your files to the new drive.