Network Discovery Issues

[Jmachol]

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.

 

[Jmachol]

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]

 

[zigzag3143]

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

 

[ultraplanet]

Have you tweaked any services? SSDP Discovery Service?

 

[Jmachol]

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

I am the admin.

Have you tweaked any services? SSDP Discovery Service?

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.

 

[sup3rsprt]

Turning this off is what is stopping me from finding his network path.

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.

 

[ultraplanet]

Turning this off is what is stopping me from finding his network path.

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.

 

[Jmachol]

Turning this off is what is stopping me from finding his network path.

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.

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.

 

[sup3rsprt]

"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

 

[Jmachol]

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.

 

[torrentg]

Get rid of that Bonjour service, disable NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Driver Service (unless you have the glasses), disable IP Helper service, disable dns client (optional) and your services look good.

 

[Jmachol]

Alright, I've now finished all of that. The Network Discovery issue is still present though.

 

[sup3rsprt]

Jmachol, in a few minutes I will reboot into Windows 7 and compare your services to mine. I'll report back.

In the mean time could you post the output of nbtstat -n ?

You did netstat -n but not nbtstat -n

EDIT1: Ok I'm in Windows 7 now (had to wait for a download to finish in XP).

I notice that some services are not running on your computer that are supposed to be.

TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
SSDP Discovery

You can enable them in services management.

TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper should be set 'Automatic' and SSDP Discovery as 'Manual'

EDIT2: By any chance are you using third-party security software? Because they often break network discovery and/or file sharing as well.

 

[Jmachol]

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7100]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\System32>nbtstat -n

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [0.0.0.0] Scope Id: []

No names in cache

Local Area Connection 2:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.1.4] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
JOSH-PC <00> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered
JOSH-PC <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1E> GROUP Registered
WORKGROUP <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

C:\Windows\System32>

Sorry for misreading that command. Alright, I will make sure to do that to the services. I am running Avast free edition, but sharing with him has worked before while using it also.

EDIT1: I did what you said and so far the problem still exists. The setting continues to set itself to off and I still get "the network path was not found" error.

 

[Jmachol]

Any other ideas guys? Thanks for the help so far also!

 

[sup3rsprt]

After you changed the services, you'll need to start them manually or reboot.

The output of all of your commands looks OK . You're right that Avast should not be a problem. I have it on my laptop, and no problems with file sharing.

Try to uninstall/reinstall "client for microsoft networks" and "file and print sharing" protocols. You can do that under the properties for your network adapter.

 

[Jmachol]

Thank you guys for all of your help. The problem has been resolved and I can now share with him. I wonder what turned all of that off in the first place?

 

[ssnguyen87]

Same Problem

Hi could you walk me through the same problem? My brother's comp got a Windows 7 virus recently. I managed to get rid of the virus, but now the internet seems to have gone haywire (it wouldn't work when the virus was active). The computer is hardwired to the router and the computer recognizes the connection, but none of the browsers work. In addition the I can't turn the network detection on. Everytime I do it and hit "save changes" the settings revert back to off. I don't know what else to do. Any advice would be appreciated.