Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Fokke Nauta Newsgroups: alt.comp.os.windows-11 Subject: Re: Can't connect to laptop Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:39:45 +0200 Lines: 115 Message-ID: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net MG8IjjhNA7YqXfZqSXC0fQveMZPzDh0TW1sN75g+EqPvEThSBa Cancel-Lock: sha1:phhn8fVsttS85LVZf3021+UYKsM= sha256:F/62lDeputwlTLRiBGPLDJusNFsCGKY0YwbbDvRPBxw= User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/102.15.1 Content-Language: nl In-Reply-To: Xref: csiph.com alt.comp.os.windows-11:18767 On 28/04/2025 15:15, Graham J wrote: > Fokke Nauta wrote: > > [snip] > > . >>> >>> I've come to this rather late, but you might work through this >>> checklist: >>> >>> 1.  Do all the computers and other devices on the LAN get their IP >>> addresses by DHCP from a router?  If not, why not? >> >> Yes, they all get a fixed IP address from the router, depending on >> their ID. > > Do you mean by using eh "bind" facility on the router, to assign an IP > address to the MAC address of each computer?  It might not be called > "bind" on your router. > >> >>> 2.  All Windows machines should have the same "Workgroup" name. >> >> Yes, they have. >> >>> 3.  Ensure all 3rd party antivirus has any firewall disabled - at >>> least until you get the network to function. >> >> I can't find a way how to enable the firewall of Bitdefender. > > Did you mean to write that?  Whatever, its firewall should be DISabled > for the moment.  If you can't disable it, uninstall Bitdefender. > >>> 4.  The windows network type should be "Work", not "Private" or >>> "Public".  You may be able to get "Private" to work later, once you >>> have everything set up correctly.  Note: "Work" is only available on >>> "Pro" and higher versions of windows.  For home versions you must >>> choose "Private". >> >> It is pro. But all pc's and laptops are connected with Private. Where >> inbound connections are allowed. >> >>> 5.  All windows machines should - at the very least - have the same >>> username and password for their "Administrator" account.  Ideally >>> they should have a separate "User" account with limited permissions >>> for everyday use.  The folder(s) that you wish to have available over >>> the LAN should have their sharing permissions set correctly. >> >> No, they have not. Each pc or laptop has it's own username and password. > > Probably your problem.  Set up the same "Admin" user and password on all > the machines. > >> >>> 6.  Test initially using ping from the command line.  Ping by IP >>> address until you can confirm that name resolution is working >>> correctly. Windows often fails to get this right so you may find it >>> easier to stick with IP addresses.  If your router supports "binding" >>> then use it. >> >> This works well. >> >>> 7.  Windows explorer should be able to find your networked devices in >>> its "Network" setting.  You may be prompted to enable this feature. >>> First look for computers by IP address, thus: \\\sharename - you >>> should be prompted for the username and password to give access to >>> that share.  You may be prompted to save these credentials.  Don't >>> try to get device letter mapping working until you can see the >>> network share easily and repeatably. >> >> This doesn't work. Nothing appears. > > On the target W11 laptop have you enabled file sharing, and shared a > specific folder? > > If so, from that W11 laptop, if you use Windows Explorer to view > "Computer" do you see - in the left hand column of the Explorer view - > the title "Network" somewhere below "Computer"?  If you open that tree, > can you see the laptop itself?  If so, can you open it and see the > folder you have shared?  This should work even if the network is > disconnected.  You might have to explicitly open it with > \\ > Yes, the shared folders are visible. > Compare the behaviour with a known good W11 machine. I have the same W11 Pro laptop as my wife. Mine is accessable in the LAN. > >> >>> 8.  There are different versions of the SMB protocol that Windows >>> uses for file sharing.  Make sure you have the same (most modern) >>> version on all your machines. >> >> It's the same version as on another laptop with the same OS. And that >> is accessable. >> >>> 9.  Once you think you have it working, shut down everything.  Then >>> restart the router first, and other computers once the router has its >>> internet connection properly established.  Confirm that the >>> networking behaves properly.  Be aware that if a machine "sleeps" its >>> networking may not behave properly when it is "woken up". >> >> I see no reason to restart the router. It works well. > > That's not the point.  It is to confirm that everything will work > correctly after a power outage. > OK, I will restart it, but I don't expect to see an improvement. Fokke