Inconsistent Network Share Problems

[ShadowWolf810]

Hi all, done my fill of Googling the past few weeks on this, can't figure it out. 

 

Here's the setup. There are 4 computers (3 WIN10 1 MacOS) on my network I'm interested in. Computer names are: 

Workstation-1

Workstation-2

Ray-Laptop

Ray-Mac-Mini

 

I've set up various network drives and folder shares across all the different computers I want to have access to from anywhere on the network. 

Workstation-2 can see all of them flawlessly in the 'Network' section of File explorer. At least it did until a few minutes ago. Now it only sees Workstation-1 and Ray-Laptop, just like all the others, something broke it, but it's been the odd one out, being the only one that would ever see them all. 

 

At the end of the day I'd like all 4 computers to be able to see all 4 computers. And they all can, I've confirmed in command prompt that I can ping all 4 computers from every other one and get a response. 

 

And here's a video showing that I can access any of the places I want to and see the files, so I know the sharing permissions/setup is correct. 

 

I've followed every guide that I can find. 

I've enabled various services on all the computers recommended, like: 

Function Discovery Provider Host

Function Discovery Resource Publication

And I've set these all to be Automatic (Delayed Start) 

 

I've enabled SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support in Windows Features 

 

Network is set to private on all machines, File and Printer Sharing is turned on as well as Network Discovery, password protection is turned off in the Network Sharing Center, Encryption is the same. Etc. 

 

Does anyone have a deep understanding of Windows networking, or have an insanely detailed guide I can follow that will guarantee I can get every computer to show up in 'Network' instead of just the two. 

I've had this issue for months and never can find a solution, so I haven't been able to set everything up the way I want, just the essential stuff. I don't want to use 'Network Drives' with letters because I won't have enough letters, and it'll be way more confusion anyway. 

 

Any help would be awesome! 

 

[Falcon1986]

@ShadowWolf810

 

Are they all in the same workgroup?

[ShadowWolf810]

3 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

@ShadowWolf810

 

Are they all in the same workgroup?

@Falcon1986 Yes, just confirmed they are all on the same Workgroup, just the default one titled "WORKGROUP" minus the Mac mini ofc. 

[ShadowWolf810]

@Falcon1986 

 

For good measure I just changed all three of the windows computers to a new workgroup name, one that none of them could have ever had before. 

 

Now RAY-LAPTOP can see and access files on: RAY-LAPTOP, WORKSTATION-1, and WORKSTATION-2 in the network section of file explorer. But the other 2 computers only see the Laptop, not even themselves anymore. This is after a restart of all machines, and refreshing the file explorer multiple times. 

 

 

 

[GhostRoadieBL]

assuming you've already been through this https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/112017-view-all-network-shares-windows-pc.html

and even the powershell wouldn't show the folders that's the extent of my network experience

[ShadowWolf810]

19 minutes ago, GhostRoadieBL said:

assuming you've already been through this https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/112017-view-all-network-shares-windows-pc.html

and even the powershell wouldn't show the folders that's the extent of my network experience

@GhostRoadieBL Yeah unfortunately these all just seem to show the same information, about what shares are actually shared on the computer, not what shares are on the rest of the network. 

 

I can get whatever folders I want to get permission and setup wise, its just not showing all the available shares in the 'Network' Section of the file explorer there

[GhostRoadieBL]

19 minutes ago, ShadowWolf810 said:

@GhostRoadieBL Yeah unfortunately these all just seem to show the same information, about what shares are actually shared on the computer, not what shares are on the rest of the network. 

 

I can get whatever folders I want to get permission and setup wise, its just not showing all the available shares in the 'Network' Section of the file explorer there

there used to be a windows share manager executable which would change a few registry values and deep windows setting for fixing shares automatically, it was my go to for anything network share related. went looking for it and the download link is gone. I'll take a look around the bowels of the older internet forums and see if someone is still hosting it but no promises it was back in the win7 days and helped transition all the pcs I would work on with mixed win 7, 8, 10 networks.