• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.
  • The forums have been upgraded with support for dark mode. By default it will follow the setting on your system/browser. You may override it by scrolling to the end of the page and clicking the gears icon.

Problems W10 22H2 - Explorer cannot browse network

Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
7,244 (1.06/day)
System Name ICE-QUAD // ICE-CRUNCH
Processor Q6600 // 2x Xeon 5472
Memory 2GB DDR // 8GB FB-DIMM
Video Card(s) HD3850-AGP // FireGL 3400
Display(s) 2 x Samsung 204Ts = 3200x1200
Audio Device(s) Audigy 2
Software Windows Server 2003 R2 as a Workstation now migrated to W10 with regrets.
I've spent a few hours trying to solve this one without luck.

New W10 22H2 install. Same LAN workgroup name. Other devices, e.g. my W10 21H2 can see the new PC via Explorer Network browse. However, the new install 22H2 machine cannot see anything. Although it can access other devices though IP address or \\network name, they do not show up in the browser.

Any ideas?

ANSWER - IT CANNOT BE DONE - New W10/11 installs do not include SMBv1 which is required for Explorer Network Browser to work. If your W10 can do it, it is because you have SMBv1 running which is strictly not recommended by MS
 
Last edited:
Is the network set to private and is sharing enabled?
 
Hi,
Yeah network discovery needs to be enabled on all devices
I just got an error because it's off
1678126285923.png

Also saw a click to change but I already have a xfinity app that I use for this.


1678127152839.png

Edit
I'm on the recommended public network so all is off.
 
Last edited:
@yes, yes, and hence devices are reachable, just not via Explorer Network Browser
@ThrashZone , what settings management app is that? (screenshot). Is that W11? My W10 22H2 looks very different.

Network > Advanced Sharing Settings
...all correct
 
Last edited:
Hi,
Yep win-11 22h2.

Think password protected sharing on might be why ?
 
In the spirit of trying random thinks, I toggled "password protected sharing" both ways. Makes no difference.

I am reading this: https://woshub.com/network-computers-not-showing-windows-10/

Could it be that Network Discovery just doesnt work in fresh installs of W10 22H2, and only exists as working on my other machines dues to grandfathering through upgrades?
 
Hi,
Yeah maybe onedrive replaces this feature :eek:
 
In the spirit of trying random thinks, I toggled "password protected sharing" both ways. Makes no difference.

I am reading this: https://woshub.com/network-computers-not-showing-windows-10/

Could it be that Network Discovery just doesnt work in fresh installs of W10 22H2, and only exists as working on my other machines dues to grandfathering through upgrades?

Hm, I wouldnt think so. I cant check rn because my work laptop is ubuntu, but there should be a network discovery and sharing service in the services list. Maybe see if it is started?

The discovery itself might take some time too.
 

Long Short

Explorer Network Discovery (ie finding other devices on same Workgroup Name) relies on SMBv1 protocol which is now disabled/not installed in all W10/W11 new installs.

The fact that my older W10's can do it, is because of grandfathering by upgrading from W7, where it worked.

What you will find in W10/W11 Explorer Network now needs to be populated by domain controller or fixed IP resources. Why has MS not solved this by making Network discovery available via SMBv3 or other protocol if SMBv1 is so problematic.

FFS

Where the heck was this notified - I've wasted hours today on this!

And there are so many webpages making suggestions about how to fix this "discovery not working" issue - but they send you on a wild goose chase - they are out of date since W10 1709!
 
Last edited:
Hi,
I'm looking for alternatively you can share files using onedrive :laugh:
 
WHERE THE FXING BANSTICK FOR YOU YOU DEVIL

For completeness, and to all other poor souls that end up here... probably after spending hours banging their heads on walls:

For home and small business users who use Network Neighbourhood to locate Windows computers, you now have to map drives to the computers on your LAN because you can no longer browse them, from W10 1709.

If you have Explorer Network Discovery working on your W10 installation with a version >=1709 it means you have grandfathered services and policies running that allows you to continue using Network Discovery that is based on SMBv1.

However, MS has cut off SMB v1.0 on new installs, because SMBv1 is full of security holes. What is not ok is that Microsoft did not 1) highlight that Network Browse would not longer work and 2) upgrade the Network Discovery service to operate using more secure protocols available now.

I'm finding numerous posts in other forums relating to this. People who are having problems seeing shares, browsing resources, performing a net view in a workgroup, adding a printer, accessing shared storage devices.

Workgroup Explorer Network Discovery has been available for 30 years now (WFW 3.11) and many SOHO users rely on it. It is highly inconsiderate of MS toward their SOHO users running Workgroups to not update the Network Discovery service for the millions of people who don't run domain controllers!
 
Last edited:
Hi,
Been up hill every since they removed real network info from task manager.
Looks like ms don't want their url's known or easily seen ;)

Probably should look into using terminal for network info.
 

install it
use it to browse your LAN
it will find Windows devices and shares
right click on the device to open it in explorer

What! This easy to install utility can do it, but explorer can't! SHAME ON MS
 

install it
use it to browse your LAN
it will find Windows devices and shares
right click on the device to open it in explorer

What! This easy to install utility can do it, but explorer can't! SHAME ON MS
Hi,
Nice tool :cool:
 
Back
Top