Need assistance with win10 and networking

[Executioner]

I purchased a used Dell E6540 laptop. Has Windows 10 pro installed. I can't get my network shares to be accessible.
My network is called HOME. All the other windows 7 pc's are identified as workgroup=HOME. The win10 laptop is also identified as workgroup=HOME.

In Changed Advanced Sharing Options I have:
Turn on Network Discovery and Turn on automatic setup of network connected devices
Turn on File and Print Sharing
Public File sharing=ON
Media streaming option is turned on
Use 128 bit encryption
Turn OFF password protecting sharing

So I think those settings are correct. When I look in the Network, I can see the other Win7 PC's icons, but I get this error when drying to access them:
Windows can't access \\Garage-PC

Not sure what else it could be.

UPDATE: I changed Network Profile from public to private, and re-enabled all the options above again, but still no access. I have version 1809.

[FlyingPenguin]

Make sure the network type on the Win10 pc is set to Private. Other than that it sounds fine.

[Genom]

When using anonymous access it's very iffy for me. I tend to make sure the user exists on the host machine and login that way.

[Executioner]

Wow what a hassle this windows 10. I've been spending hours trying different things to make this work. Windows 7 and even 8 were so much easier! The latest try was enabling SMB v1.0 that was disabled. Several users reported that fixed the issue, but I still can't connect. On my Win7 machine, I can see and access the windows 10 laptop and able to view my documents, but no go the other way.

[FlyingPenguin]

Like Genom says, anonymous access to shares SHOULD work but they can be problematic - especially between different operating system versions. Ideally you should log in as a user that exists on the host machine. That's what I do at home on my Win7 file server to avoid issues.

Instead of changing the username on the Win10 PC, you could use the Credentials Manager in the Win10 PC to change what user name the Win10 PC uses when it access shares on a another specific PC. So if PC#1 you want to see a shared folder on has a user named Ernie on it, use the credentials manager to log into the shares on that PC as Ernie. If Ernie doesn't have a password then leave it blank in the credentials manager.

Instructions here (scroll down to "How to add credentials to Windows" (Add a Windows Credential): https://www.digitalcitizen.life/credent ... in-details

You can make a credential for each Win7 box the Win10 PC needs to access shares from.

[psypher]

Do not enable SMB v1.0, especially on a network with Windows 7. There's a perfectly good reason it's disabled.

[Executioner]

I've removed SMB v1.0 since I only installed it to test.
I still can't get it to work. On my win7 machine, I go into ipconfig to get the info for the ip address (IPv4) and host name. I put all that in the Credentials Manager with no password, but it still does not work even after rebooting. I also tried adding a generic credential with the same results.

[FlyingPenguin]

You don't need an ip just the hostname for the oc sharing files. You're probably not using static ips anyway.

Then the username that you use to login to the pc sharing the files. If you use a password on the sharing pc then you need to have it on the credentials as well, otherwise leave blank.

[Executioner]

Still confused. The credential is asking for "internet or network address", so I thought it would be the ip address.
I don't use a user name to log into the window 7 machine. It just boots up to the desktop.
Name of the pc: Wathen1955-PC
User: Wathen1955
I put both of those pieces in and it also does not work.

[FlyingPenguin]

Sounds right.

That machine has a Hostname, and that will be the network address. You don't need the two slashes although if you enter them, windows will just remove them from the credentials.

There is always a username. That name is visible in the upper right of the start menu by the user thumbnail.

Even though the instructions say to put the hostname in front if the username with a slash, I've never found it necessary except on a domain.

On my PCs I restrict the file server to only use password sharing for security, and there's three users the other PCs use, either my name for full access or the wife for limited access (no write permissions except her private folder). The third is for the media center PCs with read only access to only the media folders.

Now all my PCs use Windows Pro. A couple are Win10, and the server is Win7. Home can be a bit cranky sometimes but should still work.

[FlyingPenguin]

Just a thought, do you have a AV suite on that Win10 PC that might be blocking you with it's firewall?

Maybe Genom has some other ideas.

[Executioner]

OK I got it to work by following this short video:



and I had to re-enable the SMB v1. A few of the component services ware set as "manual", so i changed them to automatic.

As I'm working on setting this new replacement laptop, I'm still using the win 10 desktop. Still not use to using it, but some parts are ok. I can install the Classic Shell, or the Start10 that I purchased a license for. Haven't decided yet. Have you had any experience Bob with Start10 desktop?

Looks like the battery on this laptop does not last more than 2 hours just surfing the net. I guess I need to buy the Dell battery. I got this one from Amazon for $35.
Laptop is nice considering what I was using before. Much bigger screen at 15.6, and has a 250gb SSD for the boot drive, and a 500gb spinner. It also has 2 video cards. The built in one from Intel, and an AMD Radeon 8790M. So now I'm able to play some games.

Anyway, thanks for the help. I'm curious what Genom has to say about the SMB v1 that I enabled. I'm sure it has to do with security.

[FlyingPenguin]

I use Start10 on one of my PCs - I bought it because I thought Classic Shell was dead. It works fine. I still like Classic Shell slightly better and the code is being maintained by someone else under the name of "Open Shell" now:
https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu/releases

You really shouldn't need SMB 1.0, and it's badly compromised. Details here: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/fil ... sing-smb1/

Sure, it's just your home network and not a corporate network, and you're not using passworded shares so you're already pretty insecure. Me personally, I use passworded shares on my home network for security. The problem is that you might get something nasty in an IoT device, or get your router compromised, or a malicious actor could hack into your wifi, or a guest visiting you and using your Wifi could have something nasty in their mobile device or laptop.

Me I'm ultra paranoid so I have a separate "Trusted" and "Guest" Wifi that are isolated from each other. Any guests or IoT devices (my Ring doorbell, my smart TVs and BluRays) are all on the Guest Wifi so they can't even see my private LAN segment. But that's just me.

[Executioner]

Well, I'm not an network expert by any means, but if you are ever on the west coast around my neck of the woods, I'd be willing to pay you to "redo" my old network.

[Executioner]

Found another solution this evening on another site. I now have the SMB v1 disabled, and I made this simple change in the registry:

Finally found the issue last night. There's a problem with running admin privileges on both machines. Apparently it messes up basic network access and disables SMBv2 sharing. Change the following registry key and everything will work like normal again.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters]"AllowInsecureGuestAuth"=dword:1

So now I still have access.