Resolving Windows network-connection problems

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NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTING By Lance Whitney Troubleshooting networking issues in Windows 10 can be a maddening process. When your PC refuses to make a co
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wavy, woody

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Reminded me to check for an update!
my AUSU n66w is still getting up dates 3.0.0.4.382_51641 for DOS exploit!

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Nice article!

One additional thing I would suggest checking, based on my experience:

There’s a feature in Windows called the “Network Connectivity Status Indicator”, or NCSI for short.

The NCSI’s domain name resolution and web probe are the backing for the indicator you have in your Network and Sharing Center that says Access type: Internet or (when NCSI is not working) Access type: No internet access.

In layman’s terms, your computer regularly contacts Microsoft to determine if you have Internet Access.

Some privacy software packages or articles on locking systems down have advised to disable or reconfigure NCSI. If you have done so, you may not be seeing Access type: Internet in your Network and Sharing Center. This didn’t used to cause anything bad.

Nowadays, certain packages (e.g., Outlook 365) take the NCSI seriously and will no longer work if you don’t have Access type: Internet in your Network and Sharing Center. If this is the case you will need to undo your changes and re-enable NCSI.

There are a number of articles online that can guide you in re-enabling NCSI. Google “enable NCSI” for a good start.

This post is simply to let people know that even the “When all else fails” network reset proposed in Lance’s article won’t fix Access type: No internet access if NCSI has been disabled. I’ve been there.

-Noel

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woody

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The Microsoft guide to troubleshooting network connection issues is here:

Fix network connection issues in Windows

Hope this helps…

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woody

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In 3/21 as per Susan’s advice,  I updated to ver. 20H2 for Windows 10 on all 5 of my systems (A-E) on a home LAN. Now I have one chronic Windows network issue. All systems see each other’s shared folders with one sporadic issue: System A sometimes after bootup will not see shared folders on System B.

Eventually I am able to access from A shared folders on B but only after different workarounds: 1) Windows restore on A;   2) from A,  map the shared folders on B; or 3) On A, right-click shortcuts to shared folders on B, open file location, and copy new shortcut to shared folder (on B) on A’s desktop.

But then the next day, or day after on System A, I will again lose access to B’s shared folders. With that exception, access to shared folders on all systems is OK.

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Do you get any errors when this happens?
Anything in Event Viewer?
If you use the URL of the remote folder, can you access it without needing to map?

cheers, Paul

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cmar6

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Paul, I use the shared folders assigned windows name.

What should I be looking for in Event Viewer?

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Any network errors in EV may tell you what is going on.

To check the remote folders by URL you need to type the name of the computer into Explorer.

e.g. \\computer1\documents

cheers, Paul

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cmar6

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cmar6 wrote:

System A sometimes after bootup will not see shared folders on System B.

Do you have SMBv1 on on system A ?
The simple solution is to add system B’s IP address to system A’s Quick Access.

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cmar6

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I don’t know what SMBv1 is but most posts say to disable it for security reasons.

I looked up Quick Access, which seems to be something in Windows Explorer by means of which one can “pin to quick access” though no IPs are involved.  The router-modem (on every reboot) reassigns IPs to the 5 systems on the LAN, so computer names are used (not IPs) to map shared drives.

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cmar6 wrote:

I don’t know what SMBv1 is but most posts say to disable it for security reasons.

I looked up Quick Access, which seems to be something in Windows Explorer by means of which one can “pin to quick access” though no IPs are involved.  The router-modem (on every reboot) reassigns IPs to the 5 systems on the LAN, so computer names are used (not IPs) to map shared drives.

You are correct about the SMBv1 security but Microsoft’s Windows Network still sometimes needs it.

Assign a fix IP to system B.

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cmar6

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How does one know if one has SMBv1?

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cmar6 wrote:

SMBv1

SMB is sharing network protocol. Just set SMB Client on System B and see if you have access from system A.

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cmar6

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Whatever SMB Client is set to on System B, it allows access from Systems C,D,E so I don’t see why it would bar System A. How does one “set SMB Client”?

Thanks, CMA

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cmar6 wrote:

Whatever SMB Client is set to on System B, it allows access from Systems C,D,E so I don’t see why it would bar System A. How does one “set SMB Client”?

Thanks, CMA

Set SMBv1 on A.

Take a look at the attachment and put a ‘v’ in SMBv1 client. Restart.

I advised you to set a fix IP to System B and add that IP to quick access on system A, so no need to SMBv1 (see my attachment)

How do I set a static IP address in Windows?

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cmar6

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