Windows 7: Network Discovery Issues

Hello all,



Whenever I turn network discovery on and click save changes, I go right back to edit advanced sharing settings to find that it has set itself back to off automatically. Any ideas? I have researched a bit and can't really seem to find anything that works for me.

Here is a recording I just took of the exact issue as it happens:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrApdg7e0Ac"]YouTube - Network Discovery Issues[/ame]

where are you turning network discovery on? Is there a prohibition against it by the admin?

Have you tweaked any services? SSDP Discovery Service?

I am the admin.

I have turned off Windows Defender but I was able to turn it on before and detect my brother's computer. All firewalls have been turned off etc. Turning this off is what is stopping me from finding his network path. I do not know what SSDP Discovery Service is.

You don't need Network Discovery for file sharing.

Go to his computer, run ipconfig in a command window (or check the network adapter properties). Note the IP address.

Go to your computer. Open My Computer and type \\his.ip.address.here in the address bar and press Enter.

In fact, you don't even need to go to his computer. Use ipscan or netscan to scan the whole network and it will find his computer very quickly.

No but it could be what is preventing you from being able to get network discovery to stay on when you turn it on. Which is the question you asked I thought.

The network path can't be found for his IP. It can be pinged though. It shows up under Network but the Network Discovery is to get me and him in the same workgroup. His is on and says he is in WORKGROUP. Mine is off which in turn makes me not in any workgroup. I'm just wondering why it keeps automatically turning off every time I change it to on. Because once I fix this we will both be in the same workgroup and I will be able to find his network path.

"network path can't be found" error is usually caused by the file sharing services not running properly (or not all of them started).

can you show me the output of all these commands?

nbtstat -n

netstat -an

net start

you might need to run them from an elevated command prompt

C:\Users\Josh>netstat -n

Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 127.0.0.1:1029 127.0.0.1:27015 ESTABLISHED
TCP 127.0.0.1:13687 127.0.0.1:13688 ESTABLISHED
TCP 127.0.0.1:13688 127.0.0.1:13687 ESTABLISHED
TCP 127.0.0.1:13689 127.0.0.1:13690 ESTABLISHED
TCP 127.0.0.1:13690 127.0.0.1:13689 ESTABLISHED
TCP 127.0.0.1:27015 127.0.0.1:1029 ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.1.4:13507 96.17.77.73:80 CLOSE_WAIT
TCP 192.168.1.4:14667 72.165.61.144:27039 CLOSE_WAIT
TCP 192.168.1.4:15019 74.86.200.237:80 ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.1.4:15020 74.86.200.237:80 ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.1.4:15021 74.125.67.102:80 ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.1.4:15022 74.125.45.113:80 ESTABLISHED

C:\Users\Josh>netstat -an

Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 0.0.0.0:135 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:445 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:912 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:1025 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:1026 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:1027 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:1028 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:1031 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:2890 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:5357 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:53854 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 127.0.0.1:1029 127.0.0.1:27015 ESTABLISHED
TCP 127.0.0.1:5354 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 127.0.0.1:13687 127.0.0.1:13688 ESTABLISHED
TCP 127.0.0.1:13688 127.0.0.1:13687 ESTABLISHED
TCP 127.0.0.1:13689 127.0.0.1:13690 ESTABLISHED
TCP 127.0.0.1:13690 127.0.0.1:13689 ESTABLISHED
TCP 127.0.0.1:27015 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 127.0.0.1:27015 127.0.0.1:1029 ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.1.4:139 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 192.168.1.4:13507 96.17.77.73:80 CLOSE_WAIT
TCP 192.168.1.4:14667 72.165.61.144:27039 CLOSE_WAIT
TCP 192.168.1.4:15019 74.86.200.237:80 ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.1.4:15020 74.86.200.237:80 ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.1.4:15021 74.125.67.102:80 ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.1.4:15022 74.125.45.113:80 ESTABLISHED
TCP [::]:135 [::]:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:445 [::]:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:1025 [::]:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:1026 [::]:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:1027 [::]:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:1028 [::]:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:1031 [::]:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:2890 [::]:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:5357 [::]:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:53854 [::]:0 LISTENING
UDP 0.0.0.0:500 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:3544 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:3702 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:3702 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:3702 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:3702 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:4500 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:5355 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:49542 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:50997 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:53016 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:53854 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:54382 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:58703 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:65121 *:*
UDP 127.0.0.1:44301 *:*
UDP 127.0.0.1:59689 *:*
UDP 127.0.0.1:61034 *:*
UDP 192.168.1.4:137 *:*
UDP 192.168.1.4:138 *:*
UDP 192.168.1.4:1900 *:*
UDP 192.168.1.4:5353 *:*
UDP 192.168.1.4:50785 *:*
UDP 192.168.1.4:53377 *:*
UDP [::]:500 *:*
UDP [::]:3702 *:*
UDP [::]:3702 *:*
UDP [::]:3702 *:*
UDP [::]:3702 *:*
UDP [::]:4500 *:*
UDP [::]:5355 *:*
UDP [::]:49543 *:*
UDP [::]:53017 *:*
UDP [::]:53854 *:*
UDP [::]:54383 *:*
UDP [::]:58704 *:*

C:\Users\Josh>net start
These Windows services are started:

Apple Mobile Device
avast! Antivirus
avast! iAVS4 Control Service
Background Intelligent Transfer Service
Base Filtering Engine
Bonjour Service
COM+ Event System
Computer Browser
Cryptographic Services
DCOM Server Process Launcher
Desktop Window Manager Session Manager
DHCP Client
Diagnostic Policy Service
Diagnostic Service Host
Distributed Link Tracking Client
DNS Client
Function Discovery Provider Host
Function Discovery Resource Publication
Group Policy Client
HomeGroup Provider
IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules
IP Helper
iPod Service
Kodak AiO Device Service
Multimedia Class Scheduler
Network Connections
Network List Service
Network Location Awareness
Network Store Interface Service
NVIDIA Display Driver Service
NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Driver Service
Offline Files
Plug and Play
PnkBstrA
Portrait Displays Display Tune Service
Power
Print Spooler
Process Monitor
Program Compatibility Assistant Service
Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
RPC Endpoint Mapper
Security Accounts Manager
Security Center
Server
Shell Hardware Detection
Steam Client Service
Superfetch
System Event Notification Service
Task Scheduler
Themes
User Profile Service
VMware Authorization Service
VMware DHCP Service
VMware NAT Service
WebClient
Windows Audio
Windows Audio Endpoint Builder
Windows Connect Now - Config Registrar
Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework
Windows Event Log
Windows Firewall
Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
Windows Live ID Sign-in Assistant
Windows Management Instrumentation
Windows Search
Windows Update
Workstation

The command completed successfully.