A Few LAN Questions

Currently six Windows 7, one W8.1, and one W10 machines on our LAN; most of the time, everything works.

1. There doesn't seem to be an answer anywhere, but I will ask anyway.....in Explorer, in the folder tree, under Network, more often that not, the very machine I wish to access has disappeared from the list.
I may have just moments ago accessed that machine and it was listed there at that time.
Constantly having to type machines in the address bar becomes quite annoying; especially when the machine should be listed and just a click away.
Is there any sort of command that will magically make all the machines show in the list for now and all time to come, or even just for each session ?

2. Along the same lines as Question 1., the appearance of network machines in the Network thumbnail view is very haphazard; sometimes only a single machine will show, or maybe two or three; it is a rare occasion indeed when everybody shows up for roll call.
Is there any fix for this, permanent or temporary ?

3. Computer names ... as entered and displayed in the computers themselves, will have upper and lower case letters; however, down there in the folder tree list, everything is listed as all caps.
When I type a computer name in the address bar, should I type it all caps, or exactly as it appears in the machine itself, or does it matter whether I use any caps at all ?
The reason I ask is because sometimes I have a devil of a time getting it to admit that there is such an animal on the network.

4. If I share a drive or a main folder, everything below that point should be shared as well, right; and therefore, I should never ever ever again as long as we both should ever live have to go below that initial shared point and share any of it's sub-folders ever again, right ?
The reason for this question is mostly what has caused the confusing situation asked about in the next question, number 5.

5. Displayed list of shared folders = this is a tough question to put into words.
Example, Machine X has a couple of entire drives shared; and, after various frustrating attempts over the years to force access to various folders that I completely had access to in the first place, those folders names display as well, causing for a long and confusing list to display in Network, when all I really want to see is the name of the shared drive.
How can I clean up these share lists and have only the head of the creek to display ? ----- without making them inaccessible...


I wish there was somehow to make Windows completely quit trying to protect me from myself; I own all of these machines, bought and paid for, and all the data on them; I AM the administrator and absolute monarch of this kingdom; and yet, when I am in a hurry to access a machine that I had been accessing problem free for months, I get that stupid box that tells me that I don't have permission --- Big Cuss Word... it's enough to make a man go over the hill talking to himself..

How did you share your network? Domain, homegroup, legacy file share?
when you share a folder/drive, do you set the security to allow all?
To remove all security in the communication in your network, you can create a rule in microsoft firewall where you allow all outbound and inbound traffic. then you have opened the firewall completely. NOTE, keep in mind that the firewall is totally wide open then.

Thanks to you both.

Unless the electricity is down or I have to restart one for whatever reason, all of our machines are on all of the time.

I don't know what "domain" or "legacy file share" is; Homegroup never seemed to work hardly at all so I don't use it.

I have everything set for username and password sharing.

I don't understand this "Master Browser"; I never saw that term before.

"you can use IP to connect to PCs with no problems is \\192.168.1.56\sharename" = Thanks; I did not know there was an across-the-board address prefix like that.

"You can add all PC's name to host file on all PC's to overcome mb problem"
This is also something I was unaware of; where do I find this "host file" ?

Like I said earlier, everything works fine most of the time; and then out of the blue, things can sure get frustrating.

What puzzles me is when I have been accessing a machine fine and then I go to do something and get that box that tells me I don't have permission instead of getting the box that asks for username/password.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer.

if you are going to lock ip address to computer name in host, then the network should have a static ip numbers

samuria said:

To modify host file How to Modify Your Hosts File so You Can Work on a Site That Is Not Yet Live You add local pc ie 192.168.1.24 pcname



Run this on all pcs and note which is Master browser its stand alone so you dont need to install http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/netbios_scanner.html


You can map a network drive with


net use s: \\192.168.1.124\sharename


changs s: to the drive letter you want and ip to the pc you want to map to. You can past txt into not pad and save as .cmd file ie pc1.cmd and double click on it to connect

Thanks; I haven't dug into this yet, but definitely intend to; much appreciated.

Marie SWE said:

if you are going to lock ip address to computer name in host, then the network should have a static ip numbers

Thanks; Are static ip numbers a good or a bad thing ?



I have been mulling over this network business and have a plan of action in mind; that plan needs a couple of beginner questions answered.

With the use passwords network option that I have everything set up with, and Full Control permission on the chosen folders given to my main machine, if the satellite machines have Read Only permission to a folder, am I correct in understanding that the satellite machine can copy needed files from that folder and do whatever they want to with that file once the copy is within the satellite machine, but cannot make any changes to the folder that has Read Only ?

With Read/Write permission, the satellite machine could also add a file or folder to that folder, but cannot delete anything or change the names of anything, right ?

Just exactly who is "Everyone" ; with password protected sharing, Everyone seems to be no one.

BuckSkin said:

Thanks; Are static ip numbers a good or a bad thing ?

Static IP numbers are good, but a little tedious to set up.
The easiest way is to lock IP numbers to the different computers/devices mac addresses in the router/firewall.
This way you do not have to set up each computer and they always get the same ip-numbers...... and when you connect a new device to the network, it will automatically get a new ip-number

But this does not answer your questions about rights in allocated resources
samuria's English is much better than mine, so it's probably easiest and best that samuria explains.

Marie SWE said:

samuria's English is much better than mine, so it's probably easiest and best that samuria explains.

Either of you guys English is better than mine and American Redneck English is the only language I ever knew.

BuckSkin said:

Either of you guys English is better than mine and American Redneck English is the only language I ever knew.

so may be, but your native language are English while mine is Swedish even if you are a "redneck"
Swedish: Om jag förklarar på Svenska förstår du nog ännu mindre.
Translated: If I explain in Swedish, you probably understand even less.

Right.