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. Anonymous
    2018-06-30T09:19:06+00:00

    It is an Oppo Android phone fully up to date. When turned on the hotspot simply says to connect with the password. There are two security settings, but neither will allow internet connection.

    On the computer, the setting says it is security type WPA2-Personal with IPv4 address of 192.168.0.45 (which I fixed myself to make the home network work properly) and DNS server of 192.168.0.1 (which is my modem).

    If I get the adapter on the computer to automatic IPv4 address, it shows a complex one, the connection says it is connected to the internet, but in fact I can't go there.

    I can't put the computer on automatic IPv4 address as that means it won't connect to my home network when I am at home. That was the whole problem that started this.

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  2. Pauli O 16,380 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-06-30T10:34:04+00:00

    That's odd. Have you check from manual isn't there any settings in OPPO to change Wi-Fi hotspot to use DHCP Server to provide addresses to clients?

    On my Lumia situation is quite opposite: I don't know if I can set it's hotspot to use static addressing, it's always create mshome.net using IP-space 192.168.137.xxx.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-06-30T18:46:50+00:00

    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.

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