Windows 10: Turn On or Off Network Discovery in Windows 10

How to: Turn On or Off Network Discovery in Windows 10

How to Turn On or Off Network Discovery in Windows 10


By default, the first time you connect to a new network (wired or wireless), you will be prompted "Do you want to allow your PC to be discoverable by other PCs and devices on this network?" by the network location. For example: Private, Public, and Domain. Based on the network location you choose, Windows will automatically assign a network discovery state to the network and opens the appropriate Windows Firewall ports for that state.

Network discovery is a network setting that affects whether your computer can find other computers and devices on the network and whether other computers on the network can find your computer.

There are three network discovery states:

[table][tr][td]Discovery State[/td] [td]Description[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]On[/td] [td]This state allows your computer to see other network computers and devices and allows people on other network computers to see your computer. This makes it easier to share files and printers.[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Off[/td] [td]This state prevents your computer from seeing other network computers and devices and prevents people on other network computers from seeing your computer.[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Custom[/td] [td]This is a mixed state in which some settings related to network discovery are enabled, but not all of them. For example, network discovery could be turned on, but you or your system administrator might have changed firewall settings that affect network discovery.[/td] [/tr] [/table]

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off network discovery for private and guest or public networks on your Windows 10 PC.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to turn on or off network discovery.

*note Network discovery requires that the services below are enabled, set to automatic (startup type), and running (status).

How to Start, Stop, Restart, and Disable Services in Windows 10

• DNS Client
• Function Discovery Provider Host
• Function Discovery Resource Publication
• SSDP Discovery

CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Turn On or Off Network Discovery in Settings
• Option Two: To Turn On or Off Network Discovery in Network and Sharing Center
• Option Three: To Turn On or Off Network Discovery for All Network Profiles in Command Prompt

OPTION ONE [/i] To Turn On or Off Network Discovery in Settings

*note This option is no longer available starting with Windows 10 version 1803.

This option will also set the network location to either private or public.

• If you turn on network discovery using this option, it'll set the network location to private by default.
• If you turn off network discovery using this option, it'll set the network location to public by default.

If you like, Option Two and Option Three will let you turn on or off network discovery without changing the network location.
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Network & Internet icon.

2. Do step 3 (Ethernet) or step 4 (Wi-Fi) below for the type of network you are currently connected.


3. To Turn On or Off Network Discovery of Ethernet Network
A) Click/tap on Ethernet on the left side, click/tap on the Ethernet connection (ex: Brink-Router2) on the right side you are currently connected to, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)




4. To Turn On or Off Network Discovery of Wi-Fi Network
A) Click/tap on Wi-Fi on the left side, click/tap on the Manage known networks link. (see screenshot below)



B) Click/tap on the wireless network name (ex: Brink-Router2) you are currently connected to, click/tap on Properties, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)




5. Turn on or off Make this PC discoverable for what you want to do. (see screenshots below)

*note The Make this PC discoverable setting will not be available if you have UAC set to Always notify. Setting UAC to a different level will allow Make this PC discoverable settings to be available.

The Make this PC discoverable setting will not be available if you have created a Hyper-V virtual switch with this Ethernet connection.



6. When finished, you can close Settings if you like.





OPTION TWO [/i] To Turn On or Off Network Discovery in Network and Sharing Center
1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Network and Sharing Center icon.

2. Click/tap on the Change advanced sharing settings link on the left side. (see screenshot below)



3. Expand open

the Private or Guest or Public network profile for the one you want to turn on or off network discovery. (see screenshots below step 4)

4. Select (dot) Turn on network discovery or Turn off network discovery for what you want to do, and click/tap on Save changes. (see screenshots below)

*note Under the Private network profile, you can also check (on) of uncheck (off) Turn on automatic setup of network connected devices if turning on network discovery.






5. When finished, you can close Network and Sharing Center if you like.





OPTION THREE [/i] To Turn On or Off Network Discovery for All Network Profiles in Command Prompt
1. Open an elevated command prompt.

2. Do step 3 (on) or step 4 (off) below for what you want to do.


3. To Turn On Network Discovery for All Network Profiles
A) Copy and paste the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)

*Arrow netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Network Discovery" new enable=Yes





4. To Turn Off Network Discovery for All Network Profiles
A) Copy and paste the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)

*Arrow netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Network Discovery" new enable=No




5. You can now close the elevated command prompt if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Set Network Location to be Public, Private, or Domain in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Network Location Wizard in Windows 10
• How to Add or Remove Change Network Location Context Menu in Windows 10
• How to Connect To a Wireless Network in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off File and Printer Sharing in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Password Protected Sharing in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Public Folder Sharing in Windows 10
• How to Share Files and Folders Over a Network in Windows 10
• How to View All Network Shares on a Windows PC

:)

 

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Hello Geoff, *Smile

Those services are set the same for me using a Private network with Network Discovery turned on.

You can find network connections in the subkeys of the registry key below to hopefully help.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network

Network profiles are listed in the key below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Profiles

 

Thank you!

Very surprised to see the profiles are clean and uncluttered. And thanks for confirming the services running for network discovery are the same. I only have hassles with that blasted HP Printer!

best
Geoff

 

You're most welcome Geoff. I hope you get the printer issue sorted soon.