I'm trying to get Windows explorer to show non Windows based computers in the Network folder

David Norbury

11/27/23, 8:41 AM

For some reason my Windows machine has stopped showing non-Windows computers in the Network folder. It's Windows 10 22H2 19045. It does show other Windows computers. I can set up shares to folders in these linux based machines (and vice-versa). One of the machines is a Synology NAS and I haven't changed its networking configuration. The other is a Rpi. They are all on one subnet. I could include the samba.conf file here but given that the NAS machine hasn't changed that seems pointless.

I have checked all the standard configuration options I've seen suggested by Googling. E.g. turn on CIFS 1.

I haven't delved into all the mysteries of the protocol but I have used Wireshark to record activity on ports 137, 139 and 445. I can see that there are conversations going on between the computers and that the rpi machine supports SMB dialects 2.0, 3.0 and 3.02.

I'd like to know what's changed (in Windows) and how to get it all working again please.

1 + 0

windows

file-sharing

windows-explorer

network-share

Score:0

Server

bjoster

11/30/23, 6:31 PM

I'd like to know what's changed (in Windows) and how to get it all working again please.

Hint: It's not the Windows client's fault.

With Window Vista, the "good old unreliable" method of discovering computers in the "neighborhood" using SMBv1 has been deprecated. All the newer boxes are using "Web Services Dynamic Discovery (WS-Discovery)" since then. Depending on your configuration, it's most likely that your SMBv1 listener is finally turned off (and it should stay this way). It's no longer supported, anyway.

So, discovery of (linux-) computers is no longer a matter of Samba "alone" answering. Like your typical mac it must answer to WSD calls now.

I believe Version 20.04 of the KDE Applications package kio-extras will support SMB host discovery using WS-Discovery, but that version is not available in the Stable Branch of Gentoo Linux installed on my main laptop, nor in Lubuntu 18.04.

A (tested) WS-Discovery service for linux is wsdd. It's a Web Service Discovery host daemon.

wsdd implements a Web Service Discovery host daemon. This enables (Samba)
hosts, like your local NAS device, to be found by Web Service Discovery 
Clients like Windows.

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Elon Musk

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EN: I'm trying to get Windows explorer to show non Windows based computers in the Network folder

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Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.