Windows 10: Windows 10 1511 Network Browsing Issue

In any case, the workgroup must be the same for all devices. If you mix workgroups you can still access the devices if you type the IP or device name and shared folder (such as L: \\devicename\folder) but you cannot see them on the network. Not sure if the SMB version has any effect. Shouldn't newer versions be backwards compatible?

 

Well, the problem with the SMB version only came up in Windows 10 build 10565 or later. On all other and earlier versions of windows, there was always downward compatibility. Partners use the highest SMB version available on both sides.

I have not seen anything from Microsoft about this problem. Did anyone else see something?

Bart

 

Probably this is a security bug in Windows 10. Any expert can tell us the correct settings or a workaround (other than setting SMB to version 1) ?

 

This solution worked perfect for me

 

Yes, I have read about this fix. But I think this is a security bug in Windows 10. Apparently changing the SMB version to 1 relaxes some security restrictions and you can see all the devices, while setting that to version 2 or 3 applies stricter settings and affects network discovery.

 

You're probably very right. After some more checking I realise I should have posted my solution to another thread, I don't have a network using Windows Server (so indeed without the SMB protocol), but just a LAN using the DHCP protocol. But what I did find out is that the Master browser issue does play a role. I tried various settings again and to have the network fully operational the Master browser should not be one of the PC's that can go through a shutdown/startup cycle, but rather the router which stays on almost permanently.

 

No, you have posted to the right thread "Windows 10 1511 Network Browsing Issue". Most of us are small LAN users with no Microsoft servers, just various versions of Windows on a DHCP like you. Here's a question for the experts: Can those of us with access to group policy, change all computers on our network (vista or higher) to SMB1? A registry solution would be just as good. Please provide a clue where to look.

 

You should realize that on a network with more than one Windows system, you always need an active browser to be able to see other PC's in Windows Explorer. This is regardless of whether you have a server or not. If you have a server, it is likely also acting as master browser. If you have not, one of the "normal" PC's will act as master browser.

This is why you can see the problem at hand, also when you do not have a server. But a normal router/switch/wireless will generally not act as browser server, so one of your PC's will do the job. Depending on the Windows version, it will use one or more SMB versions. If you have a Windows XP system and it happens to be the master browser, you will not see this problem on your Windows 10 system!

Regards,

Bart

 

This will fix the SMB issue until MS patches the problem - open a administrator command prompt and type the following hitting enter after each line.

sc.exe config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/nsi
sc.exe config mrxsmb20 start= disabled

then Restart the computer

To reverse this change and re-enable SMBv3 run the following commands at at the elevated command prompt

sc.exe config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/mrxsmb20/nsi
sc.exe config mrxsmb20 start= auto

then Restart the computer

 

Excellent! Thank you.

Bart

 

These commands are also valid for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.x?

Thanks

Bye

 

If I understand things correctly, there is no need to do this on any Windows version except Windows 10 build 10565 or later.

Other versions will cooperate nicely without these incantations.

Bart

 

I did this on the 2 vista PCs, the Windows 10 PC, and the Windows 8.0 PC. It fixed the problem of Windows 10 not listing the Windows 8 PC. Now, even though it's listed, it's shares are not accessible. What's worse is that before I could at least see the shares of the Windows 10 PC from the Windows 8 PC, but now the "no shares" problem exists on both PCs. Both Windows 10 and Windows 8 have no problem seeing and being seen by the 2 vista machines, including the shares. The problem is the shares are not visible on 8 from 10 or on 10 from 8.

When I run the diagnostics on each PC, 8 can find no problem, while 10 says that some network protocols are missing on "this" PC, yet they all have identical configurations (6 of 7 boxes checked).

 

Thanks SAGE. I had been searching for a solution to this for ages. Have 3 x Windows 10 machines all build 1511 (10586.36) and whilst i could access my WD MY CLOUD drives manually via \\share\ , I had lost visibility of them in Windows Explorer. Your solution has restored visibility on all 3 machines. THANK YOU!

Rob

 

I'm replying to my own post with some new info I found about the "smb1 vs smb2" issue: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2696547 . That KB article tells us how to use powershell to check the state of the smb server in Windows and also how to change it. What I found was that the two PCs that I thought I had switched to smb1 using sc.exe, were still running both 1 and 2. So I followed the instructions to disable smb2 using powershell, re-ran the powershell "get" command, so now it states that smb1=true and smb2=false. The only problem is that I still have the same networking behavior: Windows 8 and 10 can't see each other's shares, while they have no problem seeing the 2 vista PCs's shares and having their own shares be seen by the vista PCs.

UPDATE: See correction below. Server commands different than client commands.