Home network computers aren't shown in Windows Explorer

Anonymous
2018-06-24T06:56:05+00:00

I have two laptops A and B. They were connected wirelessly through my router on a HomeGroup and it worked fine. In the latest Win 10 upgrade the HomeGroup has been deleted and since then I have had terrible trouble connecting them.

I hibernate the laptops each night. When I open them in the morning, Laptop A can see and access laptop B in the Network folder of Windows Explorer. But laptop B doesn't always see laptop A and I can't get it to see it (not even by putting \laptopnamein the address bar).

Sometimes laptop B does show laptop A but when I try to access it I get a 'Windows can't connect" message.

I have tried all the sharing, credential and other options to make sure they are all consistent - nothing changes.

The ONLY way I have found for laptop B to access A is to restart laptop B (NOT A). Then it will automatically connect to A.

How do I get back to the old HomeGroup system of both computers accessing one another automatically when I wake them up?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Internet and connectivity

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  1. Pauli O 16,380 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-07-03T09:22:25+00:00

    When you enter MAC addresses did you use - or : between digits 24-0A-64-B0-32-85 or  24:0A:64:B0:32:85 ?

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-07-03T09:06:55+00:00

    I have a Sagecom  F@ST™  3864AC Router, supplied by Optus (my ISP).

    The LAN page looks like this:

    If I click : "Add entries " I get a request for a MAC address and IP address. I put in my MAC address and 192.168.0.2 (or whatever) and it says it is not a valid MAC address.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-07-03T07:25:38+00:00

    This is what mine looks like:

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  4. Pauli O 16,380 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-07-03T06:48:16+00:00

    As you can see each brand of router have different  settings.

    What is brand and model number of your router? I would like to see its manual if I can find it.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-07-03T06:44:08+00:00

    Seahawks - I have looked through all your suggestions, but my router doesn't seem to have the screens you are showing (e.g. the DHCP Reservation list, the Device Table). It has WPS enabled, but what do I do then? I assume I "add enrollee" but that asks me for an STA pin or an AP pin. I have no idea what they are for.

    Pauli O - my router won't accept the MAC addresses of my computers so I can't set the IP addresses associated with them. What should I do?

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