Windows 10, Version 1809. Network does not show computers

5. Why does the problem go away when enabling Remote Desktop in Windows 10 Pro without ever setting FDResPub to Automatic ?

In Settings, if you enable Remote Desktop, there is a checkbox that says "Make my PC discoverable on private networks". So i guess in that case, each time when Remote Desktop is initialized, there is a query if this checkbox is marked and if so, the trigger of FDResPub is activated, making the machines visible. And it fails to activate if Remote Desktop is disabled.

Again, not all machines are affected by this problem, I have 5 machines with the same default setting, only 2 of those machines exhibit the issue, ( Remote Desktop disabled on all 5 ).

Why would the same trigger work fine on 3 machines and fail just on 2 ?

From what I've seen it looks more like a timing issue of when the FDResPub is actually started.

Even on the 2 failing machines the problem is intermittent with windows 10 1903 and 1909, while it fails every time with 20H1 build 19033.1.

The setting is all the same and the triggerinfo for FDResPub is the same on all machines.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>sc qtriggerinfo FDResPub

[SC] QueryServiceConfig2 SUCCESS

SERVICE_NAME: FDResPub

        START SERVICE

          CUSTOM                       : fbcfac3f-8460-419f-8e48-1f0b49cdb85e [ETW PROVIDER UUID]

            DATA                           : PROFILE_CHANGED_TO_PRIVATE

C:\WINDOWS\system32>

5. Why does the problem go away when enabling Remote Desktop in Windows 10 Pro without ever setting FDResPub to Automatic ?

In Settings, if you enable Remote Desktop, there is a checkbox that says "Make my PC discoverable on private networks". So i guess in that case, each time when Remote Desktop is initialized, there is a query if this checkbox is marked and if so, the trigger of FDResPub is activated, making the machines visible. And it fails to activate if Remote Desktop is disabled.

In short, they didn't know what they were doing at Microsoft. First, they set FDResPub to "manual", which made the network invisible because the necessary service didn't start automatically, then they added a useless trigger that waits for a custom event that has already been set (profile changed to private).  

I don't think it is that simple. There must be a reason why they tried to use a trigger. 

1)This service was never set to Automatic, we set it to Automatic in 1803 because when MS changed the home network they forgot they needed to start the service.

2. The trigger seems to work in most cases, it is only some specific machines that have this issue.
3. The service FDResPub is running when we check, but still does not publish the computer, why ?
4. Why stopping and restarting FDResPub fixes the problem given that the service is already running ?
5. Why does the problem go away when enabling Remote Desktop in Windows 10 Pro without ever setting FDResPub to Automatic ?

Would be nice to have a clear explanation of why the behavior changes, rather than just relying on yet another workaround.

If MS can explain why the behavior is inconsistent, then they can probably come up with the correct fix.

In short, they didn't know what they were doing at Microsoft. First, they set FDResPub to "manual", which made the network invisible because the necessary service didn't start automatically, then they added a useless trigger that waits for a custom event that has already been set (profile changed to private).

You can also use command line (cmd) to delete the trigger of Function Discovery Resource Publication

Just type

sc triggerinfo FDResPub delete

Enter, and the trigger is gone.

If you want to add it again, type (copy/paste)

sc triggerinfo FDResPub start/strcustom/FBCFAC3F-8460-419F-8E48-1F0B49CDB85E/PROFILE_CHANGED_TO_PRIVATE

To sum up the problem, the trigger caused all the trouble. Once it's deleted everything works fine.

Again, thanks a lot to BenoitHuard, who found the weak spot.

I wonder why Microsoft set the trigger at all, I think it was introduced with Version 1809. Doesn't make any sense.

Still leaves a lot of unanswered questions.

With 1803, they had no trigger at all, so you had to set it automatic for the service to function.

With 1809 they added the trigger, but apparently it is just the wrong trigger, the results are inconsistent, some machines have the problem while other machines do not.

I'm sure there must be a better trigger that will work for all cases.

When looking at the service FDResPub it says it is running, so why is it not working and then it works if you restart it ?