Windows 10 Home Networking?

Darren Heal

Anyone figured out how to get Win10 home networking, um, working, after patch 1807?

I have several Pcs I want to network, all running Win10:
- my desktop
- my home server (basically another desktop with LOTS of internal and external RAID'd storage and nearly 300 movies and 500 CDs ripped
-the media room HTPC
- my laptop
- the wife's home desktop
- the wife's laptop
- the stepson's desktop

The main objective is to share media files and printers but basically I would like to set up a puke network.

I could change the home server to some flavour of Linux but I'm not sure even that would work.

I do not want to add NAS or any other hardware if possible.  Money is tight and we've already got a shedload of hardware anyway.

Advice anyone?

mickevh

1) Are you saying it worked until the patch and now does not, or has it never worked?
2) Do you know what terms like "Workgroup" "Domain" and "Homegroup" mean (so we can pitch the conversation at an appropriate level.)
3) We need to tease out the diagnosis somewhat - can you describe the symptoms?

Generally with Windows in small networks, the protocols themselves are all enabled and installed "out of the box" and all you need to do is ensure all stations are in the correct IP subnet, that all are participating in the same Workgroup (which by default is named "WOKRGROUP") and you set up some appropriate shares and permissions. Possibly some firewall setting changes are required, but often it takes care of that for itself.

However, with later versions of Windows there have been a few different versions of the CIFS/SMB protocol and some of them don't "talk" to each other very well, if at all.

Hillskill

I had to go into services and tweak some settings. My machines then all started to magically see each other!

Darren Heal

To kickevh:

1. It worked fine until patch 1807 - this is a well documented problem on the internerd. Microsoft decided to remove workgroups (which I never liked anyway) and suddenly all PC to PC networking stopped, um, networking.
2. Sort of.  But all I want is for the PCs in my house to talk to each other so I don't have to wander round the house with a 1 terabyte USB drive moving movies and music from one PC to another.  I'd like them all on one server and to be able to access them around the house.
3. Symptoms:  In file explorer I can "see" the other PCs, but I can't access their hard drives and they can't access the server's.
4. My tech skills: I can screw 'em together, I know about ctrl-alt-delete, I'm farily nifty with the likes of Excel and Mathcad and some CAD and FEA software, much beyond that and I am WAY out of depth.

To hillskill:

I've tried some tweaks but there doesn't seem to be a definitive 1, do this, 2 do that, 3 then do this kind of instruction anywhere, not even from flaming Microsoft.

ANYWAY...

Last night I found a copy of Windows Home Server 2011 for sale on FleaBay for US$95, or about 60 quid, or the price of a pint in central London these days I am sure.  We use that on the microserver at the wife's small business (about 6 full timers at the mo) and it's been performing faultlessly since 2011 or 2012 when I bought and installed her HP ProLiant microserver.

If / when that arrives, and assuming it turns out to be legit, I intend to pull the current 80 gig SSD out of the "server" fit a new 240 gig SSD (these things are cheaper than RAM these days) and load that up with Windows Server 2011.  If the PCs won't talk to each other, then at least they should talk to the server...

Next week, instructions on how to string an ethernet cable along the telegraph poles between her office and home please

cjed

Actually Workgroups are still a feature of Windows 10 networking, it's Homegroups that have been removed - and that was in the 1803 update :
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4091368/windows-10-homegroup-removed
however, it's quite possible this was only *really* removed in the following update, and if you were using  Homegroups, that may be why your networking has stopped working.

As you can still see the PCs from each other, you may be able to fix the share access issue by adding "Everyone" to the share permissions. It would be safest to limit them to Read permissions only, and see if that allows access to the files you want to get at.

To set Share permissions, right-click on the shared directory and select "Properties", then select the "Share" tab, then the "Advanced Sharing ..." button and then "Permissions" and then "Add..." and put in the "Everyone" pseudo-group. Set the allowed permissions in the check boxes below.

mickevh

Ahh - that one we can do....

Darren Heal

         5 lanes plus hard shoulders x 2 in each direction plus 3 feeder lanes either side each with their 2 hard shoulders plus a 2-lane HOV lane down the middle US 290 might be a challenge...  Not to mention the railway line....

Darren Heal

I think I've tried that already but I'll double check tonight.  Thanks.

mickevh

I guess obtaining the wayleaves for that might be "interesting," not to mention the cost of the contractors to do the work!  

However, joking aside, if you do have need to create a network link between the two sites and both have (or could have) Internet service, then a point-to-point VPN  (Virtual Private Network) would be one way to do it without having to dig up the street.

If unobstructed line of sight is available and the distance is not too great, then a point-to-point Wi-Fi link using highly directional antenna (such as parabolics or Yagi's) might be another option.

I don't know whether it's legal in the US, but in the UK there's also laser based solutions (again needing unobstructed line of sight.)

Post back if your interested - we can explore the options. I'd think he VPN solution would probably be cheapest and simplest.

Abacus

Type Troubleshoot int to search box and troubleshoot network should come which you can try out. (Sometimes it just requires a reset to defaults and then follow the instructions to set things up again)

Bill