Windows 10: How I Fixed My Missing Network & Homegroup Computers

After the Win 10 Threshold 2 Upgrade, many users are having Networking issues, especially not being able to see other PC's on the network in File Explorer's Network panel and Homegroup panel.

I have 3 Laptops on my network and encountered this issue and have spent several days tweaking all sorts of settings and trying many solutions I saw online. Finally one worked and now I can see all 3 Laptops in each panel in the Network section and all 3 Laptops in each panel in the Homegroup section. So everything is back to functioning properly.

This is what worked for me:

Open the services menu by clicking start and then typing 'services.msc' and pressing enter.

Look for the following services in the list:

· DNS Client
· Function Discovery Provider Host
· Function Discovery Resource Publication
· Peer Networking Grouping
· HomeGroup Provider
· HomeGroup Listener
· SSDP Discovery
· UPnP Device Host

1. I reset each of these settings FROM "Manual" TO "Automatic" one by one.

2. Right after doing each of those changes, I RESTARTED each service.

3. On two of the Laptops I had to LEAVE the Homegroup and REJOIN it.

4. I shut down all the Laptops and restarted each back up one at a time, starting with my primary Laptop which was the creator of the Homegroup.

Everything is displaying perfectly now!

The only other change today was I got this Cumulative Update which updated Win 10 on all 3 Laptops.

Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3118754)

I'm not sure if that KB3118754 update had a part in helping fix things or not, but the update did install before things started working again and I did these changes above after the update.

Win 10 is definitely quite a bit of work to maintain compared to prior versions of Windows, and you have to be really tech savvy to know what to do when things stop functioning. I can't imagine how users who don't have tech mind skills are handling it.

Good Luck to those having this networking issue. There are a ton of users experiencing problems, so Threshold 2 definitely has serious networking bugs.

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** BE SURE TO ALWAYS SET A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT BEFORE DOING ANY CHANGES! AND ANOTHER RESTORE POINT WHEN YOUR PC IS WORKING AGAIN! AND ALSO EXPORT YOUR REGISTRY SO YOU ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP OF THAT TOO! **

:)

 

I would like to talk with seahawks65

Hi Seahawks65

I have just downloaded your discussion info regarding How to Fix Missing Computer Icons in Network Folder & Fix Homegroup in WIN 10 "Updated"

I am having much difficulty in getting Homegroup to work on my laptop.

I can click on Control Panel/Network Folder but there is no Homegroup Icon on the Control Panel also.

When I click Network Folder I cannot follow your pictures as they are printed out very small and I cannot follow the prompts.

Any way you can send me the instruction pictures in a larger format to help me resolve my problem. Much Appreciated. MauWein

 

The good, the bad, and the ugly!

Go to this link and it explains everything about sharing in network and homegroup. It is also to help and try and fix the issue in Windows 10 of missing PC's showing in the Network Folder. But in all, it explains about sharing.

How To FIX Missing Computer Icons In Network Folder & Fix Homegroup In Win 10 "UPDATED"

Interesting link, thought it might be the one to fix our problem. Setup a homegroup on my computer after verifying all the sharing buttons. Went to my wife's computer and verified the sharing buttons, then tried to join the homegroup got as far as entering
the password "Window can't setup a homegroup on this computer."

An interesting observation, on my computer the active network is called Network, on the shop and wife's computers it's called the name of our router.

 

Hey thanks for your solution to this problem. I have about a dozen computers on my home network, and when I upgraded the devices running Windows 10 to the November 2015 1511 Version, a couple of the Windows devices 'disappeared' from the network map - at least on the Windows 10 devices as I still have a couple of devices running Windows 7 and the 'missing' computers were shown on the Windows 7 network maps. I spent several hours on the phone with Windows Support but in the end they were totally mystified. I searched and searched the web for a few days looking for someone with the same problem and perhaps a solution. I did find one other guy on Windows10forums.com with the same problem but he didn't have a solution either. When I found your thread on this forum I tried it and it fixed the problem completely. Accordingly I've posted your thread on the Windows10forums.com web site as well. How did you figure this out?

Thanks again!

 

Just trying every way I could think from my own tech experience and knowledge and from researching every Win 10 forum I could, to see what everyone else was trying that may have worked. I found most of this solution that worked online and then added a couple things on top of that. I do think the Update MS put out might have been a big help resolving it also.

Glad your network is working too. It's so frustrating when things like this happens because you know there has to be a solution to the problem and it's usually just a couple setting changes or fixes like in this case. Getting the right combo of tweaks is the trick usually.

 

Thank you so much KRL, it worked for me as well. I followed your instructions first then restarted my Pc My PC connected straight away so I then ran the update so it looks like your groundwork did the business first, so thanks again....

 

Thanks for your help. I was able to get my homegroup issue fixed. If you don't turn off all computers, you can't create a new homegroup, because it sees an active homegroup. once they were all off I was able to set up new homegroup.

 

So what do I do when none of this helps? All 3 PC's on my network lost homegroup functionality after last week's Windows 10 update. I cannot leave the homegroup, as there is no such option. Nor can I join the one I was 'invited' to, as the system stalls forever on "Verifying password." Microsoft needs to hire real programmers; not college interns.

 

@ Rassilon - Hi. Did you get KB3118754 yet? That one apparently has networking fixes.

I wish MS would let us know what is in the updates. Everything is blind now. What is the BIG SECRET why we can't know what updates are being installed. It is so not right. Imagine if you went to the doctor and he wouldn't tell you what medicines he was putting in your body and he said just close your eyes and swallow. LOL This is so absurd that 1 Billion people can't know what is going on. Geez. No other business could do this to customers. *really

 

Hi all, thanks KRL for putting this info here and I did try this on another machine I have that exhibits the same problem
and it did not work. I know the machine I tried it on was an insider build of 10586 and that machine has been like it
since build 10166. I have tried everything I can think of and to date, the ONLY machines that I can see in my network
is laptops and PC's, the NAS and the two WD boxes will NOT show up at all. I did the update to the machine I am typing
this on and it did exactly the same thing which did NOT happen on 10240 and it also erased so many of my links to
programmes like MS Office and MS Money and a couple of others. I tried to fix them but gave up and went back to 10240.

I am going to install Th2 on a NEW HDD and see if that works? can only try but again, thanks for adding this here. *Smile

 

Just upgraded to Win 10 on main PC, have posted in SevenForums but this is my first post here. I thought I’d give this thread a go before starting a new one.

My issue is this: I set up a homegroup on main PC with Win 10 following the wizard and used all default settings. On second PC, running Win 7, went through the wizard there – joined the homegroup without a problem. Then when trying to access it, it can see the shared folders but nothing happens when trying to open any of them. No error message, the circle spins for about 30 seconds and that’s it.

When setting up the homegroup, it includes music, pictures, videos as shared as the default and the option to share the Documents folder. Are these the actual folders under my profile, the libraries or the public folders? If I get it to work can I create specific folders to share in the homegroup or specify the public folders?

Before upgrading the main PC to 10, both PC’s were on 7 where I created a secondary user account on main PC with password, and shared public folders. Second PC was able to log in the map public folders with no problem.

So before trying all these other things, I want to make sure I’m doing the basics right. There are just too many variables and I don’t have a handle on how it’s supposed to work. There’s the method I just mentioned, libraries, folder sharing, setting who to share with, sharing libraries, public folders, sharing settings, advanced sharing, permissions, and so on.

Web searches take me to Win 7 or 8 set ups which are almost the same, so those haven’t helped much.

Any help appreciated!

 

@KRL, great bit of trouble shooting there. I'll never know how you managed to figure that out! All the correct order etc., when even MS are clueless. (Well MS have been pretty clueless and incompetent when it comes to issues affecting us. Of course their data collection works fine, unless some registry tinkering etc HeHe.)

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks as this stupid issue affected one of my 3 windows 10 PCs. I don't use homegroup, just networking so skipped the homegroup bit. Didn't even need to reboot. Bang! Working perfectly! Tested, and waited several hours before posting in case it came back. (It hasn't).

I know you are a modest chap, but just thinking of that, let alone getting it for all the right services, in order, is the best bit of trouble shooting I've ever heard of. (For Decades!). *Smile

 

You are right. And what's more, windows ten is far more sensitive than our bodies even. Really, seriously, what the heck is wrong with MS!!

 

Thank you AndyG. It's great when we have powerful forums like this one so those of us who like to figure out and solve problems ourselvses can all collaborate and not be dependent on developers and customer service techs like most users are. I've always been fascinated by the engineering of computer hardware and software and have learned most of my tech skills and knowledge by experience over the past 40 years of tinkering, and taking things apart to figure out how the components all work. Very appreciative I was blessed with a scientific and analytical techie mind. *Nerd

 

About folders, the public ones are shared by default in homegroup.

But I can't answer much more as I gave up on homegroups several years back. I find just setting up a traditional network is easier and much more flexible. (Without the variables too, and no codes to input. But you can assign unique passwords to each PC within your network if you wish.

All you need to do is go to any folder and choose to share with everyone. I've done that for years. In the network and sharing center you will find three sets of simple permissions. (Private, public, all.) Turn on network discovery, and turn off password protected sharing in each one. This is the most open and easy way to share anything read and write with any version of windows after XP.

One VERY important thing. Firstly ANYONE unless you specify permissions and passwords anyone only on the LAN will be able to access everything you have shared,and even alter it, send things to your PC, almost anything. This is obviously a potential security nightmare. If you configure for max flexibility ( anyone inside the network can look at, copy, alter and send things to every PC.) It is essential, can't empasize enough ESSENTIAL your network is behind a good modern router with built in Hardware firewall. You can check how secure it is by going to GRC, they will try to get through your firewall. (don't worry, that site is legit.) There should be no problems as pretty much any hardware based firewall is strong. Far stronger than software (like windows) based firewalls for example. I have done this with 5 to 6 PCs for about 4 years now. Totally secure. And the only people who can access my network are people phsically at one of the PCs. In my case that's just my wife and I. So it's simple.

Many people I suppose would feel a bit nervous about opening everything up like that. The good news is you can leave the password protected sharing on, and you can easily choose to make files readable only (it's nothing like remote). But if you trust everyone who has access to your PCs plus routers firewall is on (should be by default, but must be checked.) then no one outside of the router (network) will even know the PCs exist. The router won't respond to pings so it's essentially invisible on the wide internet.

It's all very easy to do, and self explanatory so it's an option for you. You may choose various levels of internal security.
If your routers firewall is configured properly, and it passes the GRC ( a website) tests your network is invisible to anyone outside the router.
Before homegroup was introduced (it was done so as old style home networks were tricky to get right.) This was the only full internal local area network option. But now, or since windows 7 networks are very easy to setup. Give you control about what, with whom and password or not for all PCs linked to your home LAN. But it's easier than the now, in my opinion, obselete homegroup.

One more security thing. This has to be clear, sorry for repeating myself. I use a wired internal network. If I was wi-fi I would not leave files without password protection and would assign access to a particular users name. Maybe overkill, but there is a tiny possibility that your rotten but tech savvy neibours could pick up your wireless signals. Wouldn't do them much good if names and passwords were assigned for each PC.

Dam, I written too much and made it sound tricky. It's not, Easier and much more flexible than the horrible homegroup system. It's logical and self explanatory all the way now. Once more. Your LAN must be invisible to anyone outside of it. This is easy to check and shouldn't be an issue, but I have warned you enough about security to be comfortable recommending it. Especially as you can choose how little or how much internal LAN security is setup. WAN - outside you physical router or gateway MUST be 100% secure. I also make sure it's not just secure but invisible. It's easy, really, but any doubts and stick with the clumsy homegroup. A homegroup is by default more internally secure than a totally passwordless LAN like I have, but both should and must be behind a hardware based modern router's firewall.

Oh, did I mention to check your routers firewall makes your network invisible? Ahem...*Sick *Eek