Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 1:50 Post subject: The Network Discovery Workaround for versions after r42054
I thought I would post this just to show a functional way to have your NETWORK NEIGHBORHOOD show and be able to access your Windows 10 computers that will not display in NETWORK NEIGHBORHOOD with DD-WRT versions after r42054.
I had also tried many times to use Microsoft's WSD workaround but that also would not work for me on most computers.
Today I decided to do something different.
First I upgraded DD to the latest version r42460 from r42054. As expected I could no longer see most of the computers in Network Neighborhood because of KSMBD not having the Network discovery that exists in the previous SMB version (in r42054). I even set STATIC IPs for all the computers and set a static IP in each computers networking matching what I had set in DD.
Still could not see most computers in Networking neighborhood (Only four out of nine).
Then What I did was removed the Networking Neighborhood Icon from the desktop of each Windows 10 computer (Personalize/Themes/Desktop Icons settings and uncheck Network). This will probably scramble your desktop icons BUT if you use the utility DesktopOK to save your icons positions first then you can quickly restore the icons to their correct placement.
Now make a new folder called NETWORK. Inside that folder make a SHORTCUT to each computer i.e. \\GARAGE. Do this for every computer on your network. After your done you can close the NETWORK folder. Put it in place of where your old Network Neighborhood Icon was before. Now you can right click your new NETWORK Folder and go to properties and CHANGE ICON and give it the same NETWORK ICON that Network Neighborhood had before. Now copy this folder to all your other computer desktops after you've removed the NETWORK NEIGHBORHOOD ICON from those desktops as well and put the new NETWORK FOLDER on the desktop. If you use DESKTOPOK utility remember to save the new desktop icon layout. Now you can click on the NETWORK FOLDER on any computer's desktop and see shortcuts with the UNC to each computer and clicking on any of those Icons will open up your shares on your computer just as it had done with NETWORK NEIGHBORHOOD using SMB 1.0 discovery. It is now functionally the same as you had previously. I have uninstalled SMB 1.0 CLIENT from all Windows 10 computers and have even negated NT 1.0 (SMB 1) from the DD router choosing under NAS SMB 2.02 MIN and SMB 3.11 MAX and still my workaround allows you to access each computer normally. I also made a Desktop Icon in my NETWORK FOLDER for the Router itself (HD-Connection) as it had disappeared. I also made one for my OpenMediaVault NAS computer. I can now access alls shares quickly again as before and now without any SMB 1.0 enabled on either the Windows 10 computers or the router.
I had thought about doing this in the past...But as I am quickly becoming a geriatric and am more and more stubborn as time moves forward I had resisted. But now that I've done it and everything is "functionally" the same I am quite happy with the outcome.
I know this may not work for some with older devices but I thought I would post my workaround for anybody like me using older computers with Windows 10 and who were having problems of the Network discovery with versions after r42054...PICS attached. _________________ WRT1900ACSv2
The router is not a domain controller or windows server. It shouldn't affect network discovery at all, but it apparently does. And d0ug is correct. A dumb or even a managed switch with all Windows clients configured correctly will see each other in the network without issue. I personally do not like using this mechanism whatsoever and I know other solutions are used for network shares out in the real world, but that is another topic altogether. _________________ "Life is but a fleeting moment, a vapor that vanishes quickly; All is vanity"
Contribute To DD-WRT Pogo - A minimal level of ability is expected and needed... DD-WRT Releases 2023 (PolitePol)
DD-WRT Releases 2023 (RSS Everything)
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Linux User #377467 counter.li.org / linuxcounter.net
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14243 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2020 17:20 Post subject:
The context without clarification led to misinterpretation, however, I was just pointing the information out as far as the router shouldn't be part of the problem, but perhaps maybe it is for some reason. Or at least I am questioning that last bit, perhaps. We could get into a long discussion on this and what works in a mixed network environment and what does not... but I'd rather not lol _________________ "Life is but a fleeting moment, a vapor that vanishes quickly; All is vanity"
Contribute To DD-WRT Pogo - A minimal level of ability is expected and needed... DD-WRT Releases 2023 (PolitePol)
DD-WRT Releases 2023 (RSS Everything)
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Linux User #377467 counter.li.org / linuxcounter.net
The internet is filled with posts of people not being able to see their shares when Microsoft disabled SMB 1.0 by default in build 1703. Most including myself turned it back on in order to see their shares. This worked fine until the SMBD was changed in DD-WRT. There are NO bad switch ports...I have two of the same router version and both are the same. It is the change made when DD switched to KSMBD in DD-wrt. If you have newer devices with updated drivers that work with WSD or later SMB versions then you may not experience this. Four of my nine computers can be seen on the network with versions after r42054. Five PCs cannot. If I change back to r42054 then ALL COMPUTERS are visible again. This is most likely a driver issue with the older legacy computers that cannot be corrected as there are no updated drivers available. I am dealing with REALITY...Not theories. This was meant to help those who might have a similar experience with older Windows 10 computers. But I've noticed most here seem to be on smartphones or Linux distros so that is a different story. I'm done.
d0ug wrote:
I dont really see what the router build would have to do with network discovery protocols like this. They usually use broadcast packets to the subnet's broadcast address to announce on the network so other devices can see. The switch which is a separate device unrelated to ddwrt in your router should be intercepting the broadcast packets and echoing them to all ports.
You shouldn't need a router at all for these kinds of services to work. You could have 8PCs plugged into a dumb 8 port switch, since there is no DHCP server they will eventually assign themselves APIPA 169.254.*.* IPs and begin announcing to the subnet's broadcast IP so all the other PCs will see the announcements.
I'd suspect you've got a faulty switch, or PCs running a local firewall that is too restrictive keeping them from seeing the broadcast announcement packets.
BTW I didn't mention on Sunday while checking everything out on r42460 I discovered something interesting and a show stopper...
I use Acronis 2016 to image my computers (I have license for 9 PCs). I used an Acronic 2016 Recovery disk which is a Linux boot disk to boot a PC. What I found was that I could not see or access my OpenMediaVault NAS computer. I had used this disk many times before to access that NAS computer where I have backed up images. I also tried a WinPE version of the Acronis recovery disk. It also could not find the OpenMediaVault NAS computer (The Acronis Disks rely on NETWORK DISCOVERY)...You can't specify the target. CLONEZILLA LIVE CD (I use Clonezilla to IMAGE my one Linux system) I could get to the NAS because CLONEZILLA asks you to specify the target (the IP).
At that point I reflashed back to r42054 and immediately I could access my OpenMediaVault NAS using the Acronis Recovery Disk.
