Win 10 file sharing problem

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've been 'upgrading' all the computers here to Win10 Pro.

When they were Win7 on a homegroup, they all shared files easily.

I have cabled LAN, Wi-Fi and a Wi-Fi range extender. If any two are on say the same Wi-Fi, they share files normally. But I'd not need an extender if this covered all the house. With one on the main router Wi-Fi and one on the range extender (TP Link), can't share. Same when one is on the cable LAN and another on Wi-Fi.

Google did give a work round, but involved pages and pages of reconfiguring near everything onto static IP addresses and so on.

Is it really the case that what I'm trying to do is outside the norm of a modern operating system?

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Dave Plowman (News) formulated the question :

I configure most things to static IP's anyway, it makes certain things much easier that way, like printing to a remote printer.

[Andy Burns]

Before even thinking about file shares ...

Do you have a single IP subnet that spans all three physical media?

A single DHCP server?

Does your router act as a local DNS server or just as a forwarder to an external DNS server?

Can every PC ping every other PC regardless of what they're connected to, by IP addr? by name?

[Andy Burns]

Using MAC address reservations, instead of static addresses, is better for devices (laptops, phones) that are mobile ...

[AnthonyL]

Oh modern operating systems can cope, it's Microsoft that can't. I don't recall an era when their networking was nearer NOTworking especially on home computers.

Well I don't like static IPs for the workstations, only for infrastructure items - but I've recently discovered a feature in a utility I have long used - AngryIP Scan (angryip.org). Rt Click on a discovered computer and open with File Manager. Then create a shortcut to the item - I have a desktop folder - Lan Places. Given up leaving it to Windows Explorer.

Paradoxically I've found it easier to access my Windows shares from my Android!! Though the utillity I'm using for that does require the IP address (other utilities are available).

[Paul]

nbtscan 192.168.1.0/24

192.168.1.101 WORKGROUP\BOB SHARING 192.168.1.102 WORKGROUP\BLUEWAVE SHARING *timeout (normal end of scan)

You can use that to see which machines are in the same workgroup. You can change the network specification, the netmask, to scan a larger portion of your local net. For example, 192.168.1.0/16 would scan all of 192.168.x.x .

Say that your router was 192.168.1.0/24 and the nbtscan command was 192.168.1.0/16 , then nbtscan would only have 192.168.1.x entries and 192.168.2.x or higher would be missing from the output.

In any case, that's a toy you can play with.

Paul

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Well I am, because it worked just fine on Win7. ;-)

Is that (in my case)192.168.1.***? If so, yes.

Pass.

Again, pass. It's a BT one and more or less out of the box.

No. Only when they are are all cabled or on the same Wi-Fi

[Andy Burns]

[snip stuff that doesn't like the problem]

So you've got a network issue, not a file sharing issue.

Does the range extender plug into an ethernet port on the router, or is it purely a wifi device?

Does the extender use the same wifi SSID as the router?

Does the extender have a web management interface?

[Andy Burns]

That's not a wrong suggestion, but get them all pinging before using it ...

[NY]

"Harry Bloomfield"; "Esq." wrote in message news:reuk5t$dpu$ [e-mail]...

For PCs that run mini web servers to configure a software package (eg weather station software or TVHeadend PVR) I set fixed IP addresses. Printing to a remote printer over the network also requires that the printer has a fixed IP.

But I never set them statically at the PC by configuring TCP not to use DHCP. It is too prone to getting two devices clashing on IP if you forget what you've already set. Also, with a portable computer (eg laptop, tablet, phone) it may get used on other networks with different subnet (eg

192.168.1.x rather than 192.168.0.x) or where static IP will clash.

What I do instead is to keep DHCP enabled on the PCs but set "reserved IP addresses" at the router: most modern routers allow you to set a series of MAC addresses (the hardware address of the adaptor, unique throughout the world) and correspond IP addresses that will be allocated. When a PC boots, it will ask for an IP in the normal way, but the router will always give it the same address rather than choosing one "at random" based on which ones are not already allocated.

[Brian Gaff]

In my view, what windows sorely needs here is a control panel that can make this sort of thing a lot less of a black art, Surely it could be designed so t looked at all the connections and suggested best addresses to set as fixed? Brian

[newshound]

If there is a particular physical drive on one machine that you need to access from another, the most solid way I have found is to use "net use" to assign a letter to it. That survives rebooting and works across a network with an extender for me. You have to turn sharing on of course.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That sounds more like what I need. I'd be happy enough to assign fixed IP addresses to the actual computers, but all the other rubbish like TVs etc would be a pain.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've got 5 PCs and 2 RISCOS ones, and was used to being able to share things (like say Users files) between all in either direction. If I could do the same with all their HDs, I'd be happy enough.

[AnthonyL]

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that though now my XP machine is being retired that may no longer be needed and I can get the pint of blood I used to sign up for Samba v1 back.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The PC associated with this machine had Win7 and XP on separate HDs and could boot to either. So when going Win10, I added a third SSD hoping to be able to do the same - boot to 10,7 or XP. But of course they've changed all that too.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Weird.

This Acorn RPC uses a prog called LanMan98 to share files with a PC across a LAN. All you do is enter the PC and file name, and if the file is shared up it comes. Works on any of my PCs. But they won't talk to one another unless on the same 'LAN' circuit - ie cable or either of the Wi-Fi senders.

I presume Win 10 changed their sharing arrangements for security? If so, it seems to have failed if a 30 year old OS gets such easy access. ;-)

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Dave Plowman (News) wrote on 19/07/2020 :

If you do not need other devices to be able to find and be able to access them, just let them rely on DHCP to allocate addresses.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've now compiled a list of the MAC addresses of everything on my network, names and their IP addresses at the time.

Can you point me in the direction of how to set things up using MAC addresses? My router is a BT one, but does seem to be quite configurable. If a bit short on help. ;-)

[Andy Burns]

google for your SmartHub/HomeHub model, DHCP reservation should get you there