Home network computers aren't shown in Windows Explorer

Again, do not turn off your router! At least not before you have fixed your problem!

How do you suppose should your PC get an IP address from that router when that router is not fully up yet? You have to power up your router at least 5 minutes before you switch the PC on! And then it depends on the router whether it is able to preserve these settings over reboots or not. Normally it should be able, though. Electricity use of a router is negligable. It probably uses less in 24 hours than your PC in 1 hour.

I do not know where you would find the relevant settings with your specific router. There should be a page which lists the currently connected devices with MAC no. (that is a unique number of the network chip in your PC) and with IP no. Write them down. Then switch off your PC (s) for a few minutes and then boot them up again. Check again. Apart from that: look on that page or a page with details for each of the devices if there is an option or text about permanent assignment. (Quigmo tells/shows you more about this.) You may have to click a checkmark for that. So, what you do is *not* add your devices to assign them "permanent" IP addresses in your router. Normally, you look at that router page and "nod it up" so to speak.

Outlook: You need the permanent assignment of IP addresses, so that, in the next step, you can assign a host name to each IP address and can then reliably reach the PC that you want to reach by name instead of checking for it's IP address first. Then, in yet another step, you would have to determine what you want to reach on each PC and share those folders. You then have to assign permissions for each user to reach those folders. (I've never used HomeGroups. I assume the HomeGroups feature took away the first step by assigning always the same hostnames to varying IP addresses by way of the mshome.net net.)

Yes, the modem is now set to get IP addresses automatically. The only way I have been told to set static addresses is by changing the IPv4 settings on each computer. But that then stops me from accessing my mobile phone's hotspot

Exactly. That's why I told you to go back to DHCP (=dynamic assignment). You wrote: the modem is now set to get IP addresses automatically. NO! You may mean it another (the right) way, but in that wording it's wrong and may confuse you later. Your PCs are set to *get* IP addresses automatically. And the router hands them out via DHCP, so it *sets* them automatically. And it should re-use always the same IP address for the same device. In turn, your PC will usually request that very same IP address it got the last time and the router will "nod" to that (this is called "re-lease" as in "lease again"). The sequence is "PC asks, router replies". Each time you boot up the PC it will start this question-answer-game. The lease time for the IP address is usually 24 hours. No later than that time the PC *has* to request again.

OK, using a shortcut to the IP address (not the computer address) gets me access, but does not connect the network (e.g. I can read the files, but if a program tries to open a file on the other computer using the computer name it says it is not accessible). So that is not a solution.

I close the lid on each computer when leaving them and the setting is for each to hibernate. It also turns off the modem. When I return I open the lid and press the power button to bring each back from hibernation. I wait for both to boot up completely and for the modem to boot up and try to connect. Failure. The ONLY solution I have found is to restart the one that won’t connect.

So I don’t understand your suggestion.

If I am sounding frustrated, bear in mind that I have been through a whole lot of investigation to put the computers on static IP addresses and now I am being told not to.

So, I have gone through all the suggestions above and have gone back to automatic IP addresses on all computers and the full range on the home modem. I have checked all the advanced sharing options and all the changes to the Services mentioned. I have restarted the modem and all the computers. The home network now appears to be working.

In order to connect to the internet through the mobile phone hotspot I had to return to the IPv4 settings to again make it get the DNS settings automatically. So I am now apparently back to what the situation was before Microsoft deleted the HomeGroup.

I find it extraordinary that Ms can just delete the Homegroup with no warning and no advice on what effect it will have on home computer networks. This has wasted hours of my time and considerable grey hairs and I am comparatively computer literate. What it has done to those less familiar I hate to think.

No marks Ms.

Pauli O: Dynamic IP addresses on the router was what caused the problems in the first place

No, not really. The *change* of IP address caused your problem. Normally, a router will always reassign the same IP address to the same PC. If it didn't do that for one PC there was a problem either on the PC or the router (troubleshoot that, maybe a clash of addresses or a malfunctioning network card).

Your other problem with the mobile hotspot is just the opposite. Because you stopped using DHCP it cannot assign you a working IP address anymore. You may be able to fix that by checking what net and internal gateway your hotspot device uses and then use the same net and gateway address on your router and home network.

Might be easier to go back to DHCP for the home network and find out why the address always changes on one device after a reboot/hibernate (if that really is the case or just an assumption on your part).

You will hit the same problem each time you want to enter another WLAN and you have no DHCP.

Pauli O: Dynamic IP addresses on the router was what caused the problems in the first place and so there is no way of going back there.

Seahawks: I see nothing in your list that addresses my problem; in fact you mention HomeGroups when it was Microsoft's abolition of those that caused my problems in the first place. They don't exist any more, or didn't you know?

My problem is linking to a mobile phone hotspot, not a router or modem.

Anyone have an answer?