Windows 10: Samba access from Android device stopped working

Dear All,
I encountered the issue of this thread, accessing network shares on Windows 10 pc from an android device.
I encountered the issue immediately after upgrading windows 7 to windows 10 1511 via iso.
The android app I use is ES File Explorer, the same mentioned numerous times on the thread.
My android device is Sprint Galaxy S6 running marshmallow.
I was able to resolve the issue by creating a local account on the Windows 10 PC.
I am able to use the local account login credentials in ES File Explorer, accessing the computer via the IP address assigned to it by my router.

My thanks to accordv6 who first pointed out this solution.

As someone who works in a unix environment at work, I think creating an account on the PC for my android device is a perfectly reasonable solution to solve this problem.

For what it's worth, I am able to use my hotmail/outlook login account to browse network shares on the windows 10 PC via my Mac OSX laptop running Yosemite. But I am unable to remote desktop into the Windows 10 PC from my mac. Go figure. That is the next problem I will try and solve.

I registered here because I assumed this forum is somehow related to the sevenforums forum I had used in the past.
I remember finding that forum useful. The forum I use most often for my professional work is called stackoverflow. It makes me happy because there are requirements for how issues are reported and solutions proposed.

This "samba access" thread has too many pointless posts. I took the the time to read the four pages. It was clear some people had difficulty comprehending the original poster's description of the problem even though it was stated clearly. I haven't read any faq on this forum's rules yet, but I guess I will because I anticipate I having more issues with Windows 10 in the future.

 

Hi there

Not sure why I'm getting involved in this thread any more but a couple of days ago for SAMSUNG Android 6.0 update was available here -- try updating your android devices to 6.0

Cheers
jimbo

 

Hi There,

I had this problem (and bro's posts did not help at all), but I discovered you can login using ES File Explorer without much issue, only that your username is not what you would expect.

Instead of using the full e-mail address of your Microsoft account, just use the first five characters. I'm not sure if that's how it generates the username, but you can check what it exactly is by typing 'whoami' in command prompt, and your username will appear after the slash for the domain.

I almost gave up on ES File Explorer after figuring out that this instantly solved my problem.

 

I encountered this smb:// connection issue as well, both in es file explorer amd on my fire tv using Kodi. After a lot of googling, I finally discovered the answer from another kodi user. Apparently, after the latest update I am guessing, the user id that is used is whatever Windows has named the folder in the C:\\USERS folder. For example, C:\\USERS\ADMIN would make ADMIN the user id you need to use to log in. Your password remains the same as what you already use to log onto your system.

 

Hi! I can confirm what waddles and idheaton suggested/ mentioned works for me as well. Been going around this forum looking for a solution to connect my android tablet (es file explorer) and kodi device to my windows shares since the update that broke the share. Thanks for the solution!

 

This solution worked for me. Thank you very much!

 

I joined this forum just to thank this user. I've used ES File Explorer for years, and gratefully. I noticed this login problem recently and was going ballistic trying to find a solution.

I can't remember if I was logging in before using my outlook account email address. Anyways, I did the 'whoami' search and used that as the username. I now seem to recall that's how I may have logged in before, but who knows. Anyways.

Thanks!

 

I had the same problem after updating Windows 10. This is what I did to fix it:

1. Select (press and hold) the LAN connection of the Win10 PC (under Network tab in ES Explorer. If you deleted it, scan again to get the connection).
2. Select "Edit Server" option.
3. Enter your Computer name in the "Domain" textbox in FULL CAPITALS!!. Don't change any other thing.
4. OK, and enjoy the SMB re-connection in ES File Explorer!!

 

I joined this forum just to thank waddles for this solution. I had removed the '@gmail.com' bit from the username, but that did not work. I essentially gave up on SMB from my Android device since this issue cropped up in May. I had just removed the password protection, but I didn't really like that option. The 'whoami' is what did it. In 'devicename\XXXXX', it is the XXXXX as the username that allows you to access shared folders through ES File Explorer.

I read this entire thread, and I must say, the reading comprehension here is astonishingly poor. The OP and several people after him laid out the exact same problem, and they were told time after time to login with the windows credentials, and that it was idiot-proof. It simply wasn't working. I hope I don't have to return here in the future, cause that's a very poor way of responding to someone's question.

waddles - thanks again, man. Brilliant idea!

 

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network and Sharing Centre\Advanced sharing settings
All Networks
Turn OFF password protected sharing

worked for me in similar circumstances with ES File Explorer

 

WOW, what a heated discussion this has become. IMHO, some the comments are "Very" unnecessary and are "Very" Narrow Minded and not exemplify of a so called "PRO" (especially when he/she is "WRONG").

That said, I have searched the web for the last week for a solution to this Android Phone sharing issue with ES File manager and, my preferred Android file manager Zenui Android File Manager. Despite other user claims that they have no problem, I did. I have a mixed bag of PC configurations (various versions of Win10 and some Win7, some Win7 upgraded to Win10) on a private local network. Even though I have my file/folder/drives that I want shared set and have Password Protected sharing turned off, I cannot access any Win10 configured PC with my Android File manager other than PUBLIC folders.

Good news is that I have stumbled onto what I feel is the solution for the present time. It adds one additional step to the normal steps we take to share our files on our networks. We need to add a security exception in file/drive/folder properties. I encourage everyone still struggling with this Windows 10 issue to take a look... It's Titled "Es File Explorer has no permissions". Be sure when making the settings suggest here to insure you check the inheritance block so all sub-folders are shared...

Link is - http://www.allpcstuff.com/es-file-ex...ions-solution/

 

After seeing waddles' suggestion about using the first 5 characters, I was able authenticate for one of my computers, but not all.
Waddles' suggestion gave me a very good lead into what user name should be used.
You can find the correct username by opening command prompt and typing echo %username%

If you're using the correct user name and are still having issues connecting, it's likely that you have a security permissions issue on the directory or your ip/server name is wrong. If you're connecting with an admin user, you don't have to explicitly share folders. You will have access to the administrative shares by only providing the server name/IP and not specifying a directory. If you do want to connect to a particular administrative share, you can provide servername/c$ where c is the drive letter.

 

in my case the problem was on the android side, because i could access the shared files from other computers.
here's how i fixed it:
1- in windows open properties of the folder you want to share, then sharing and advanced sharing
2- give a share name you can remember(also don't use spaces)
3- on android open up es file manager. left pane, network and then lan
4- scan can't find it so don't bother. add manually by "(computername)/(share name)". ip doesn't work. btw, even though you don't use a password you have to provide your username

 

Created an account just to thank you @waddles !!!

I had this issue from March, ever since I upgraded from galaxy S6 to S7. Initially, I thought it was the new phone that caused the issue. But then I tried my tablet (which always worked with ES File Explorer and LAN), and even that had stopped working. I gave up all hopes of ever being able to use smb to access my files, and switched over to AirStream, but alas! AirStream servers are down since a week, and I was back to square one.

And today I stumbled upon this topic. Read through 5 pages of typical forum drama, and empathized with the OP, feeling his pain and misery. And then on the 5th page, there's this post by waddles!

Thank you waddles!

-

 

This worked for me too! Used the <Username> from "C:\Users\<Username>" folder combined w/ my [online] m$ account pw.. et viola!

THANK YOU!