File and Printer Sharing won’t stay “turned On”

[gopher22]

File and Printer Sharing won’t stay “turned On”

I can no longer connect to any drives on a Windows 7 PC from a Windows 10 Laptop. It has been OK for a year but recently the connections failed. There have been no changes to either machine that I know of nor has any software been installed.

The Win 7 permissions are “Everyone” has full permissions.

The Win 7 PC Firewall “File and Printer Sharing” will not stay set.

The Win 7 Network and Sharing Center “File and Printer Sharing” will not stay set. Also Network Discovery is turned on.

The Win 7 Services are set as follows, a few were not started:
o Computer Browser - Automatic
o DHCP Client - Automatic
o DNS Client - Automatic
o Network Connections - Automatic
o Network Location Awareness - Automatic
o Remote Procedure Call (RPC) - Automatic
o Server - Automatic
o TCP/IP Netbios helper - Automatic
o Workstation – Automatic

Does anyone have any suggestions how I can fix this annoying issue? I am sure this has been discussed many times, but I cannot find a solution that works for me.

I can connect to a Win 7 Laptop from the Win 10 Laptop without any problems.

Thanks in advance,

Peter B

 

[gopher22]

I have temporarily found a solution.

If I turned Firewall off, it would turn back on in a few seconds, also "File and Network Sharing" would not stay set to "ON" either in "Network and Sharing Center" or allowed in Firewall settings.

I opened "Services" and "Disabled" the Firewall. After doing a restart all Win 7 PC folders can be accessed from the Win 10 Laptop.

However I cannot explain why the Win 7 Laptop could access all Win 7 PC folders with or without the Win 7 PC Firewall enabled and on.

Grrrr...darn windows...