Question One PC is off the Network that was on the Network...

[drjohnnyfever]

I can't figure out why this one pc is no longer recognized on the Network. It's a private home network that I share movies, tv shows, and music on. Two of the three main pc's on the Network continue to operate normally, but the one no longer has access to the shared files. I'm at a loss.

No changes were made other than Windows updates and Bitdefender updates. Two of the 3 continue to recognize one another - the main sharing pc and a satellite, but the other satellite - no.

Network settings on the dropped pc are the same allowing it to be identified and share on the private network, but now a password request comes up on the dropped one and none of the username/password combos that I can think of on the "sharing" pc work to get it reconnected. Plus, it was never set up to be passworded in the first place with any of the pc's on the private network.

The main pc only occasionally see the "dropped" pc.

I'm lost.

 

[COLGeek]

Make sure all systems are using the same level of encryption for file sharing connections (Network & Internet/Advanced network settings/Advanced sharing settings).

 

[drjohnnyfever]

They are all consistent.

Now the other pc is no longer in the network after a windows update. So it's likely that, but my experience is that once it doesn't work, it won't ever unless you find the deep setting - which I never have - to defeat this.

This was an issue that I dealt with when I had avg. It was not successful and the reason I switched to bitdefender. But here I am again.

There were no visible changes to any of the settings. All are still on a private network - which SHOULD negate this issue. Yet it doesn't and I have no earthly clue to get in there and make it work.

This is shockingly frustrating to have to deal with again.

There is no encryption requirement on a my private network.

Edit - my only solution in the past was to clean install windows. I don't think that is acceptable. There must be another easy way.

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include make and model modem, make and model router (or modem/router if combined).

Connection path being similar to following line diagram where ----> represents an Ethernet cable:

ISP === (coax, DSL, fiber) ===> Modem ---->[WAN Port] Router [LAN Port] ----> [LAN Ports] ---> Wired Network devices (PC x 3 - correct ?)

And Router ~~~~~ >Wireless devices (if any).

Feel free to edit and correct my line diagram.

Include other devices: printer, NAS, Switches, etc..

On your main sharing pc run "ipconfig /all" without quotes via the Command Prompt and post the full results.

You should be able to copy and paste the full results without any need to retype.

My thought being that there is a network misconfiguration in the router or on one or more of the network devices.

Are you using DHCP or static IP addresses for network devices?

 

[drjohnnyfever]

This is all unknown to me... networking. I've never done anything directly with the modem/router. I have a printer wired to the Main PC and a Lan to the Main and one of the satellite pc's. The 3rd was via wifi. This all apparently started with a Windows update. My new splash page where you put your pin in upon startup on all of the pc's has a new three pane news and weather widgets.

 

[Ralston18]

Make and model information for modem and router?

The information should be on the device.

The router's logs, if available and enabled, may provide some clues.

Who has full admin rights to the router? You may need help from that person.

Did you install NordLynx?

Regarding the printer: connected to PC via USB correct? Is the printer also connected to the router or modem using an Ethernet cable?

Also, update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

 

[drjohnnyfever]

I don't know about full admin rights. I'm the comcast customer and I can log in to the settings etc... I've never tried to change anything in there. It's an area of computing I avoid.

I have Nord but have not enabled Nord Lynx because the setup was working flawlessly for 2-3 years.

The printer is available to the connected PC via USB. I'm not certain if it available on the network. It might be.

cpu - AMD ryzen 5 3600
Mobo - Asus Prime X570 Pro
Memory - Corsair Vengence 32 GB (8x4)
PSU - Seagate Focus GM 550 Gold
OS - Win11 Pro 24H2 26100.3476
SSD - Samsung SSD 980 Pro 2 TB
3 hdds that are shared on the network - all healthy.

Sorry I'm late on responding. Been sick. I'm going to dig into this today.

 

[drjohnnyfever]

I wound up solving this after confirming all of the settings were the same for each of the PC's. The main sharing pc operates on a private network with the others. I confirmed that the one satellite that is connected via LAN had also lost the ability to share sometime in the few days of my illness. So both were off of the Network. The LAN'd satellite was relatively simple. One of the windows network settings had been changed by the most recent update. For some reason, the All Networks slider had been activated. I reverted that, restarted, and was functionally sharing again.

The other satellite pc proved to be a little more difficult. I imagine that some of that might arise from Wifi permissions as opposed to LAN settings. I don't really know, but after confirming that the All Networks had been engaged on this pc, as well, I reverted that back, restarted, but the problem persisted. I went into the BitDefender firewall and noticed that that pc was set to the "public" wifi settings in BD, so I checked the other working satellite PC and saw that it was to the "Home/Private" on the LAN. Changed the non-working to the "Home/Private" for the wifi - still no luck, even after a restart.

Tinkered a little more with no luck, so I read a little Reddit and found that this has been happening to a lot of people after the most recent Windows update. I figured it had to be something simple, but I'd been unable to find the issue over the years when it happened before. Yet this time, it worked like a charm. Back in buisness. Apperntly there were some permission changes, so a couple added lines in PowerShell fixed it completely.

Here's the post if anyone runs into this problem:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsHel..._cant_access_this_shared_folder_because_your/