Investigation into the vanished network PC Problem described Search for clues and solutions
Investigation into the vanished network PC Problem described Search for clues and solutions
Hello fellow enthusiasts! I recently switched to a wired home network after years of poor WiFi performance, and I’m thrilled with the results. As someone who’s always been passionate about PCs and computing, my expertise is mostly in custom watercooling and Excel formulas. Now, managing Ethernet cables through walls has turned out to be a breeze. After completing the wiring, connecting the cat6 cables to the router ports was straightforward—plugging them in and sharing drives gave me a network that delivers speeds double what I used to get wirelessly. It’s a real win.
In my home, I have four machines connected directly to the routers via four Ethernet ports (no switch needed). Each machine works perfectly, but there’s one exception: PC #02 seems isolated from the rest. I can’t see or reach it from any other device, even though I can connect to the others without trouble.
I’ve tried several fixes myself—resetting the router, updating firmware, changing passwords, enabling drive sharing, and adjusting file-sharing settings like SMB1.0/CIFS. I also noticed that not all machines are running the same Windows version: PCs 1, 3, and 4 are Windows 10 Pro, while PC #02 is on Windows 10 Home. This might be why PC #02 only sees SMB 1.0/CIFS support, whereas the others use SMB Direct.
I’m hoping for some guidance or support on this issue. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards,
The Gas Man
The network configuration is hidden from view, making it impossible to detect. Public settings would trigger firewall rules blocking SMB traffic, while Windows tends to alter these preferences unintentionally when disturbed by external signals near the router.
I understand your responses below. I can communicate with all devices on the network from one another, for example, PC 1 can reach 4, and 4 can reach 3, and so on. No problems detected. PC #02 is also able to ping other machines and receive pings back. Perfect connectivity. 0% drop rate. PC #02 isn't showing up in the File Explorer network list. Appreciate your guidance on SMB1.0! Thank you for your feedback. All four machines are configured on private networks. Since pings succeed, can I still manually map them? Not certain if this is useful, but I've also observed differences in visibility across devices. In File Explorer network view: PC 1 sees PCs 3 and 4 as network computers (2 total), PC 2 sees itself and the other three as network computers (4 total), PC 3 sees PC 1 and 4 as network computers (2 total). PC 4 sees PC 1 and 3 as network computers (2 total). I'm still trying to figure out its relevance.
Make sure every computer is part of the same workgroup or domain.
Verify that each device connects to the network privately. Public mode connections will block visibility of other machines. To confirm, open the network menu, select 'Network and Internet settings,' then adjust the connection properties for each system.
I attempted to locate the drives of the missing network PC on PCs 1, 3, and 4. Since the machine isn't visible on the network, I couldn't choose it from the dropdown list. I manually entered the drive paths like \\Desktop-XXXXXX\d and pressed enter. The drives appeared in the network locations list, but accessing them triggered a network error: "Windows cannot access \\Desktop-XXXXX \d You do not have permission to access \\Desktop-XXXXX\d. Contact your network administrator to request access." The desktop I was trying to reach isn't password protected and has full access rights for the drive.
Issues noted:
1. All PCs share the same workgroup named "WORKGROUP". Network ID is hidden on all devices.
2. Each PC connects in Private Mode. It might be a firewall issue.
Thank you for your response,
The Gas Man
Thank you for your input. Unfortunately, none of your recommendations applied, so I proceeded with a more drastic approach. I set up PC#02 with Windows Pro, matching the configuration of the other three units. Almost immediately after powering on, all connected devices became visible both within the network and to one another. The issue is now fully resolved.