[SOLVED] Networking windows 10 laptop and windows 10 desktop

[Andrew_Werber]

I have a Windows 10 desktop hard wired into an Ethernet switch and a Windows 10 laptop using wireless to connect in my house. The desktop has AVG on it. What is the safest way so both computers can 'see' each other? I do have a one-way visibility set up, but I modified a firewall, but I don't know if that could allow attacks from outside my home.

 

[SamirD]

The attacks outside your home would be stopped by your router nat unless you have port forwarding or dmz set up. Otherwise attacks on individual computers typically are by some malware and then go out via port 80 or 443 since those ports are never blocked since http uses them.

As far as sharing your computers--just enable sharing and be done with it.

 

[Andrew_Werber]

The attacks outside your home would be stopped by your router nat unless you have port forwarding or dmz set up. Otherwise attacks on individual computers typically are by some malware and then go out via port 80 or 443 since those ports are never blocked since http uses them.

As far as sharing your computers--just enable sharing and be done with it.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. Do you mean that I should share folders on the desktop? I have done that. In fact, my Windows 7 desktop could 'see' shared folders on the Windows 10 desktop,

 

[Andrew_Werber]

Still cannot get my laptop to 'see' my Windows 10 desktop or my Windows 7 desktop ( I would not mind getting that to work too). But the 2 desktops can 'see' each other. I hard wired my laptop to my network, and it could 'see' my Windows 10 desktop immediately after plugging it in. So, I'm still stumped. And detailed help would be very appreciated.

 

[Andrew_Werber]

The laptop and desktop communicate just fine when the laptop is hard wired. The desktop is always hard wired. The problem is when the laptop is using wi-fi to connect to the network.

Pinging - both computers pinged each other successfully.

Connecting using the ip address as a url (using \\xx.xx.xx.xx as you showed)- both computers connected to each other after I entered the correct network credentials. I could see the shared folders in both directions.

I guess I could use the IP address when I want the laptop to 'see' the desktop, but that's annoying.

Please advise.

Thank you,
Andy

 

[SamirD]

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. Do you mean that I should share folders on the desktop? I have done that. In fact, my Windows 7 desktop could 'see' shared folders on the Windows 10 desktop,

Yep, that's all there is to it.

Still cannot get my laptop to 'see' my Windows 10 desktop or my Windows 7 desktop ( I would not mind getting that to work too). But the 2 desktops can 'see' each other. I hard wired my laptop to my network, and it could 'see' my Windows 10 desktop immediately after plugging it in. So, I'm still stumped. And detailed help would be very appreciated.

Sounds like the laptop is set up correctly, but that something on your network is not. I suspect that your wireless doesn't allow wifi to lan communication or that AP is setup incorrectly.

 

[Ralston18]

And I will ask about the laptop: are you sure that only one network adapter is enabled?

Either wired or wireless as needed but not both network adapters at the same time.

Run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt.

Post the results.

 

[Andrew_Werber]

And I will ask about the laptop: are you sure that only one network adapter is enabled?

Either wired or wireless as needed but not both network adapters at the same time.

Run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt.

Post the results.

Thanks for continuing to address my problem. There's only one Ethernet jack and a wireless adapter as far as I know. Here's the output from IPConfig/all (edited some results because I was concerned I might be revealing some information that should be not exposed publicly):

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : redacted
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Killer E2500 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-4E-01-B8-28-C7
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 1:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : EE-5C-68-E3-2E-E1
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 10:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : FE-5C-68-E3-2E-E1
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Qualcomm QCA61x4A 802.11ac Wireless Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : EC-5C-68-E3-2E-E1
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::6d04:ff2d:f657:220a%11(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.150(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Monday, February 8, 2021 2:25:07 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, February 9, 2021 2:25:06 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 183262312
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-25-40-84-69-00-4E-01-B8-28-C7
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : redacted
redacted
redacted
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : EC-5C-68-E3-2E-E2
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

 

[Ralston18]

Only the wireless adapter is enabled.

I am wondering about that 192.168.7.1 DHCP Server.

Do you know if that is your router or modem?

Did you select or otherwise configure that IP address?

Also "ipconfig /all" does not really reveal anything too useful. If anything the Physical Addresses should be redacted - the rightmost 3 pairs of letters/numbers.

I usually "xxxxx" the host name.

Just FYI:

https://blog.hidemyass.com/en/public-vs-private-ip-addresses

https://ipwithease.com/public-ip-vs-private-ip/

You can easily find other similar links and explanations.

I added the links because of your concern (rightly so) about privacy. However, sometimes people take precautions that are either moot or cause problems with respect to their network.

For more information about "ipconfig"

http://networking.nitecruzr.net/2005/05/reading-ipconfig-and-diagnosing.html

Overall idea, for the moment, being that you gain some additional understanding about your network and its' configuration.

That understandingh may help with identifying and perhaps resolving the problem.

 

[SamirD]

What is the IP subnet for the wired computers? Ie, what is x in 192.168.x.whatever?

 

[Andrew_Werber]

I don't know what changed, but File Explorer is 'seeing' the Win 10 desktop. I'll wait a few days and see if this does not revert back. One thing I did today was to share a few more directories and 2 optical drives on the desktop.

 

[Andrew_Werber]

Yep, that's all there is to it.
Sounds like the laptop is set up correctly, but that something on your network is not. I suspect that your wireless doesn't allow wifi to lan communication or that AP is setup incorrectly.

I'm marking this sad best answer because it seems like adding new shared folders at least partially fixed the problem. Sometimes the laptop does not 'see' (using Windows file explorer) the desktop.