Windows 10: Win10 laptop suddenly refusing SMB1 connections

If you like ES buy the pro version...no adds, no problems and it looks like it used to look, pretty much.

 

I did wonder about that but, unfortunately, I am so disgusted by the company's underhand tactics with the free version that I will never buy anything of theirs. This is partly a matter of principle and partly the fact that I could never trust a company so unscrupulous as to distribute free software that then puts out spam messages (which they know darned well are a pack of lies) in my notifications area.

 

You do have SMB1 turned on in Windows Features?





I use SMB1 to connect from my Arch VM to Windows and it works OK. I know nothing about Android though so please excuse me if this is not relevant but I guess it is the Windows side you are asking about.

 

You are right, it's the Windows side I was asking about. I can confirm that SMB1 is checked under Windows features so I remain perplexed.

Thanks for the suggestion though. I may try turning it off, rebooting then turning it back on again to see if that makes a difference. However, this is no longer urgent for me as I have a work around so it may be a while before I have time to try that experiment.

Thanks again
Keith

 

Your whole argument is that MS should retain an insecure SMB1 system because your application/android system is not able to properly handle SMB2.

This is a totally ridiculous expectation.

Buy new android kit that does handle SMB2 - end of story.

 

Possibly. Possibly I should sell all my records and buy a CD player but that wasn't the question either.

The OP wants to use it. SMB 1 is deprecated but has not (yet) been removed either in Server 2016 or Windows 10.

Microsoft to Disable SMBv1 in Windows Starting This Fall

It certainly still works for me on latest insider build. The question isn't "is it a good idea?" but "how do I make it go?".

 

Yes but issue is really at Android end but OP is saying it effectively blaming MS. MS are not going to do anything, and there is probably no solution at OP's end, as using old android kit. In the end the two systems are no longer compatible. It would probably be better to go on the android forums to see if the android device can have a newer compatible OS flashed.

 

No, you totally misunderstand me. I'm not blaming anyone. I understand the reasons for MS withdrawing SMB1 and fully support that decision. I have every intention of upgrading my app to a later SMB version at the first possible opportunity. Unfortunately, that probably won't be for a couple of weeks.

My question was a very simple one. A week ago, I was able to communicate with both my Win10 boxes. Today, one of those boxes has spontaneously decided not to accept a connection from my app (even though it claims still to support SMB1). I simply wanted to know what might have changed to cause that to happen and whether it would be possible, temporarily, to undo it so I could complete testing. I don't have time for an immediate upgrade to SMB2 before I have the basic functionality working.

The bridge club would like to start using the software asap. I have no problem with them starting off with an SMB1 version as the system will be used on a closed network with no connection to the outside world. I already know the club's computer supports SMB1 and that isn't going to change because said computer lives in a cupboard and is never allowed to talk to anyone. Even if the worst happened and it did get infected with something, we'd simply format the hard drive and reinstall everything.

I'm a bit fed up with being painted as some sort of dinosaur, resisting progress and determined to use an outdated and dangerous protocol just for the hell of it. I'm not. I'm simply being pragmatic. I understand the risks and have decided they are minimal in the environment we are using. I was looking for a quick and dirty temporary solution and, as it happens, I now have one. I'm only continuing this thread in order to defend myself against unjustified accusations.

 

I keep trying to state that, since Linux and Google abandoned SMBv1 a long time before Microsoft could get it through their head. I can change my Synology NAS to use SMBv1, but nothing on my network could even use it anymore, since they have the fixes to refuse SMBv1 and will force SMBv2-3.

 

I have stated that also, but the OP keeps refusing that what they are trying to use is a app for Android that does not even use SMBv1 and a lot of people like myself have abandoned the app to use a different one for various connection types with Android devices.

 

The issue is that the Task Manager for ES does not work with Oreo, like the Pixel platform and same as the Android TV platforms will not use.

I use a offshoot of Midnight Commander for my Pixel and Shield TV, or the Download app that is build into the Android OS. Google has killed off SMB1 out of their kernel, that the OP does not understand this is not a Microsoft OS or Android OS problem, just someone that will not adopt to a better secured method.

 

Sorry Bro67, I genuinely don't understand what you're saying here. Which app are you referring to when you say "an app for Android that does not even use SMB1"?

If you're talking about ES file explorer then I don't know what I've said to make you think I'm refusing anything. I hate ES and have asked for suggestions for an alternative.

However, the very fact that we are talking about third party apps is way off topic, so far as I am concerned. The original question was triggered by problems I was having with my app; the one I am developing. I wrote it using Android Studio as a development environment. That product provides some built-in libraries to allow accessing shares via SMB. I actually have no idea what version of SMB they work to. Subsequent events have raised my suspicions that they may be SMB1 but I don't really know. When I started developing, I didn't even know there were different versions of SMB. So far as I was concerned, networking was a black art best left to trusted libraries that hopefully knew what they were doing. Anyway, I used the library routines and, hurrah, it all worked. I then got on with the business of developing the real guts of my app.

I was going great guns until I made the mistake of taking a couple of weeks off. Upon my return, I found my app could no longer see one of my Win10 boxes. My app hadn't changed and I could still access my other Win10 box so my suspicions naturally turned to the laptop. Something, I reasoned, must have happened to it. This is when I started using 3rd party apps to see if the problem was confined to my app. I found that it wasn't. Other people's apps couldn't access my laptop either. When I tried ES, I got the message about SMB2. This was the first time I'd even thought about SMB versions. ES itself was merely a diagnostic aid and my question had nothing to do with a desire to use, or not use, any specific 3rd party product.

I wanted to overcome whatever the problem was and get back to where I'd been before my holiday. It appeared that the only component that had changed was the laptop so I raised the question here.

I was expecting maybe some suggestions as to how to undo an update or reset some Windows settings. I wasn't expecting, but welcomed, the useful information about the dangers of SMB1 and suggestions for avoiding it. What wasn't so welcome was the stream of accusations that I was ignoring advice, refusing to accept what I'd been told and that I was some sort of villain for saying that I just wanted, for two more weeks, to carry on as I had been for the last nine months or so, in order to get my initial release out and worry about SMB2 later. As I have already stated, I have done a risk analysis so far as my beta customer is concerned and determined that the risks associated with SMB1 are minimal given the closed network environment.

It is very distressing to have to waste potential development time here, defending myself against what I see as inflammatory accusations following what should have been a simple question.

 

Your problem has zero to do with Windows or Android. It is a problem with that you have been given the suggestion of going to the Developer forums for the software that you are using to write your code and that there is nothing out there that even allows legacy connections with SMBv1, because of Wannacry and Wipeout and cry.

 

Which makes me wonder if I've got it all wrong. Maybe the libraries I am using have been SMB2 all along (I'm not sure how to tell) and it's a totally different problem, because I have no difficulty accessing shares on my tower PC (also Win10). So either that PC is accepting an SMB1 connection or the libraries I'm using are already talking SMB2.

I also cannot connect to my laptop from the third party Android file manager I'm using. If you, or anyone else, could recommend a good SMB2-aware file manager for Android that isn't ES File Explorer (which I refuse to use as a matter of principle) then I'd be interested to hear it.

 

The default file manager for Android that comes with all devices works fine for folders. The offshoot of Midnight Commander allows you to look at all folders. I gave you suggestions for alternative network explorers. AndSMB is the best out there.