windows 11 computer not seeing other network computers

Richard York 20

WIndows 11 computer does not see other computers and their mapped disks

How to fix

Les Wilkins 0 Reputation points

2025-11-04T12:45:22.72+00:00

Since upgrading to W11 when it first came out, I have never been able to get access to the other computer on our LAN. Initially I thought it might be because the other computer was still on W10, but upgrading that one to W11 made no difference.
I have followed all the steps suggested above on both computers, but it has made no difference. Removed all T.P. security software on both computers (and cleaned up all files left behind), now using inbuilt MS security instead - no difference.
It's very frustrating, and appears to be a widepsread problem, which should have been sorted long ago.
Richard York 20 Reputation points

2025-11-04T14:50:33.1933333+00:00

Suggested solution did not work for me. What did work was connecting via IP address (but you need username/password).

Have nothing good to say about MS
Richard Lunquist 0 Reputation points

2025-11-16T22:19:26.2666667+00:00

Unfortunately, the Nov. 13 suggestion by yukari N did not work for me. Under Network on File Explorer, only the local computer shows up. I checked the registry, and the suggested changes were made. The NAS and other computers do show up on the device window.
Jonathan Duke 0 Reputation points

2025-11-26T13:23:54.4333333+00:00

Using my security software, ESET, on each computer's network display, each computer can see the other. However I have tried all the steps above without success. Microsoft really must step in and do something about this problem. It is real.

6 answers

MotoX80 37,161 Reputation points

2025-11-29T15:38:05.8933333+00:00

The first step in troubleshooting network access problems is to verify that the client PC can determine the network address of the PC that hosts the network shares.

Open a Powershell prompt and use nslookup.exe to test DNS name resolution.

Note: if you have switched your PC to use an external DNS server like Google's 8.8.8.8, then local name resolution will not work. In that case you need to ensure that Network Discovery is properly configured.

Typically your router will function as both the DHCP and DNS server. You may see both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

Some machines may still have NetBIOS functioning. Use ping.exe to see if it resolves the address. Note that ICMP packets may be blocked by the firewall. You are mainly looking to see that the correct IP address was found.

If you are unable to resolve the IP address, you will need to check Network Discovery. You will need to verify this on BOTH the client PC and the PC that hosts the network shares.

See my answer in this post. This contains my CheckNetworkDiscovery.ps1 script.

https://v4.hkg1.meaqua.org/en-us/answers/questions/2151284/24h2-killed-network-discovery

Open Powershell_ISE with "Run as administrator" and paste the script into a tab and run it.

On this PC, it does not have the required firewall rules enabled.

If you need to fix Network Discovery, please see my FixNetworkDiscovery.ps1 script in the accepted answer in this post.

https://v4.hkg1.meaqua.org/en-us/answers/questions/302088/how-to-switch-from-a-call-by-ip-address-to-a-call

Copy/paste/run the script in another tab.

Then go back to the CheckNetworkDiscovery.ps1 tab and run it. Verify that it says "Your network profile is set to Private".

If name resolution still does not function, then try rebooting both machines.

Your machines should now show up in the explorer's Network section.

Next, use Test-Netconnection to verify that SMB port 445 is allowed through the firewall.

If that fails, then on the PC that hosts the shares, run "wf.msc" to configure the firewall. Select "Filter by profile" and choose private. Select "Filter by group" and choose "File and printer sharing". Verify that they are enabled.

Use "net view" to list the shares.

If you get a "system error 5", that means that the account that you are logged in with cannot authenticate to the other PC. On my network, I log on to my laptop and my bigblue PC with my Microsoft account. That allows me to list the shares.

I also have several test VM's (test10, test11) where I have defined a local account named admin, with a password of admin, on each pc. That allows those machines to access each other's shares.

I personally do not recommend enabling the guest account to access shares. I consider that to be a security risk. Use either a MS account or a local account with the same name and password on both machines. You can always use the Windows Credential Manager to define an entry if your desktop account is not defined on the pc that hosts the shares.

I also recommend that you do not use the C$ share. Share out your data folders and grant appropriate access to the share permissions and the folder permissions.

I'm going to stop here for now.
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MotoX80 37,161 Reputation points

2025-11-30T16:03:07.4133333+00:00

Some additional scripts here.

This one will report on the Lanman settings and SMB features that are related to network share access.

# Script: LanManSettings.ps1 # Author: MotoX80 on v4.hkg1.meaqua.org forums cls $EnableSecuritySignature = Get-ItemPropertyValue hklm:SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters -Name EnableSecuritySignature $RequireSecuritySignature = Get-ItemPropertyValue hklm:SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters -Name RequireSecuritySignature try { $AllowInsecureGuestAuth = Get-ItemPropertyValue hklm:SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters -Name AllowInsecureGuestAuth -ErrorAction Stop } catch { $AllowInsecureGuestAuth = "n/a" } try { $RequireSecureNegotiate = Get-ItemPropertyValue hklm:SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters -Name RequireSecureNegotiate -ErrorAction Stop } catch { $RequireSecureNegotiate = "n/a" } $SMB1Server = (Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName SMB1Protocol-Server).State $SMB1Client = (Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName SMB1Protocol-Client).State "EnableSecuritySignature = $EnableSecuritySignature" "RequireSecuritySignature = $RequireSecuritySignature" "AllowInsecureGuestAuth = $AllowInsecureGuestAuth" "RequireSecureNegotiate = $RequireSecureNegotiate" "SMB1 Server = $SMB1Server" "SMB1 Client = $SMB1Client"

My Win11 laptop reports this.

If you have a very old PC or old NAS device, you may need to enable the SMB1 features.

This one should be run on the PC that hosts the shares. It will report on shares and their permissions.

# Script: SharePermissionsSimple.ps1 # Author: MotoX80 on v4.hkg1.meaqua.org forums cls Get-SmbShare | Where-Object -Property Name -NotLike '*$' | foreach { # exclude hidden and administrative shares write-host -ForegroundColor Blue "----------------------------------------------------------------" " {0}" -f $_.Name | write-host -ForegroundColor Yellow write-host -ForegroundColor Blue "----------------------------------------------------------------" "Share permissions for {0}." -f $_.Name $_ | Get-SmbShareAccess | Format-Table -Property AccountName, AccessControlType, AccessRight "" "NTFS folder permissions on {0}." -f $_.Path (Get-Acl -Path $_.Path ).Access | Format-Table -Property IdentityReference, AccessControlType, FileSystemRights -AutoSize }

For those not aware of how permissions work, the share permissions act as a filter to the file/folder permissions. So if an account has full control on a file/folder, if the share permissions only allow read access, then the user will not be able to update the files/folder. The share permissions will block the update request.

Jonathan Duke 0 Reputation points

2025-11-30T21:18:20.8833333+00:00

I'm sorry to Motox80, but I'm not sure I can follow this intensely technical suggestion steeped in deepest Microsoftese and I am reluctant to try and follow it in case I make an error and end up still stuck. As a fact, my W11 laptop is brand new and a vanilla installation of W11 Professional. The desktop is a fully up to date vanilla W10. It's Microsoft's job to sell computers that will connect together and not mine to do their work for them. I worked in IT for 40 years, and am thinking of reverting to W10 to see if that works.

MotoX80 37,161 Reputation points

2025-12-01T02:15:10+00:00

My take is that Microsoft is between a rock and a hard place. They can make file sharing secure and address new security vulnerabilities or they can make it easy. But it's really tough to do both. And remember, Microsoft knows nothing about the configuration of your network router.

I think that the main issue is using an online forum to troubleshoot. If you're here looking for help, then I don't have much choice but to ask you to: "Run this command and tell me what comes back". I don't have access to your PCs.

So what I tried to do was organize the analysis and present it in a logical, progressive way. I used screen snippets because I thought that would be better than just telling you to run a command. Ie: here is what it looks like. Here (red arrows) are the items that you should pay attention to.

Think of it like going to the hospital. The doctor needs to do triage to try to figure out whats wrong with you. They'll take your blood pressure, temperature, maybe some blood work. It's not always obvious what the problem is.

It's similar with file sharing. We need to verify if the network addresses can be resolved. We need to see if a firewall is blocking access. We need to see if account authentication is working. We need to see if the latest Microsoft KB patch has broken something. It's not always obvious what the problem is.

If you don't feel comfortable running commands, then maybe you should consider finding a friend who works as a desktop support technician and ask them for help. Or go to some place like the Geek Squad at Best Buy and pay them to troubleshoot your PCs.

If you've worked in IT for 40 years (I wrote my first program in COBOL, using punched cards, in January of 1974) then I would think that you should be able to run a few of these commands. Start with the test-netconnection cmdlet. Tell me what comes back. Then run the net view command. Tell me what comes back.

Test-NetConnection -ComputerName YourPcName -CommonTCPPort SMB net view \\YourPcName
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