Windows 10: Unable to see networked devices but can on other machines

Hi all!

I wouldn't normally ask for help as I'm usually pretty damned good at sorting issues myself but this has got me stumped.

I've got 2 PC's and a laptop. Laptop behaves the same way as PC2 so I'll discount that for now.

The issue:

PC1 appears to have an issue with the network in that it cannot see (many) devices and cannot be accessed by devices.

PC1 1809 when browsing the network can only see itself and PC2. It's on 1.3
PC2 1803 when browsing the network can see everything, routers, NAS, laptop and PC1

If PC2 tries to view shares on PC1 I get a 'network path is not found' error
If PC1 tries to view shares on PC2, it works fine.

If I ping PC1 from PC2 I can ping both by name and IP address so it is visible on the network.

I've done the usual, reset network, reset IP, reset firewall, reset everything of reasonable importance and likewise, disabled firewall, turned off password protected sharing. Enabled all relevant services for file browsing, upnp, dns and so on.

Presently, I'm pulling my hair out and short of flattening the whole machine and starting again, which I really don't want to do, I'm lost for ideas!

Thanks so much in advance!

:)

 

What is this network device?


This is a weird problem I've been seeing in windows for years now (not just windows 10). I've been unable to figure out what it is, but we're not alone in this, I did some research a while back and a lot of other people were seeing it as well.

Some suggest it's a bug in the network stack. Some suggest it's neighbors who are connecting somehow, but not able to use the network. Regardless, it's not an uncommon problem and doesn't seem to be anything worry about. Here's some examples:

Solved Strange phones in network - Windows 10 Forums
Strange phones listed on Network heading

 

What is this network device?


I woke my desktop PC from sleep this morning, clicked on Network and immediately spotted a Phone in the device list that doesn't belong to anyone here (a Blu brand phone which is unusual enough that I would know about it).

I clicked on the device and was able to view the MAC address, but nothing else useful. A couple minutes later it disappeared from the network list.

Then a few minutes later I went and looked at another PC on the same home network and saw the same phone in its Network list. It also disappeared a couple minutes after I clicked open 'Network'.

Scanned both PCs with various anti-malware programs including Malwarebytes - they look clean.

Any suggestions on what I was seeing, and if it's malicious how to deal with it?


UPDATE: It popped back up again. I checked my router's connection list and don't see it there. For now I blocked the MAC address in my router but would still like to know where this is coming from.

 

Network devices listed under Unknown in Device Manager


I have a Dell Inspiron M731R laptop upgraded from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 Home 64-Bit that suddenly quit connecting to the home network. Was using wireless, so switched to an Ethernet cable, but still no luck. I just discovered that ALL of the network-related devices are now listed under an "Unknown" tab in the Device Manager. A check of properties of each item in that folder says they are all working properly, but that obviously isn't the case. I tried uninstalling each of the 4 items, but when they are recognized again they still show up under the Unknown tab. Any suggestions would be welcome.