Network and sharing settings is not loading in my Windows 10

 
Windows 10 Can’t See Other Network Computers in Workgroup

The problem of not displaying network computers in Windows 10 Workgroup environment began to appear since the Windows 10 1703 (Creators Update). After upgrading to this (or newer) Windows 10 build, your computer may stop seeing neighboring computers when viewing devices in Network item of File Explorer.

You can see the list of computers in the network environment in the File Explorer or with the command:

image source: woshub

And when you click on the Network icon in Windows 10 File Explorer, this error is displayed:

Network discovery is turned off. Network computers and devices are not visible. Please turn on network discovery in Network and Sharing Center.

image source: woshub

Advanced sharing settings. Make sure that in the Private network profile section the following options checked:

• Turn on network discovery + Turn on automatic setup of network connected devices;
• Turn on file and printer sharing;
• Allow Windows to manage homegroup connections (recommended).

image source: woshub

Then enable the following options in the All networks section:

• Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files in the Public folders;
• Turn off password Protected Sharing (if you trust all the devices in your network);
  Thus, you can open anonymous network access to your computer. So, when you enable this option, you must correctly set the permissions on the shared network folders and printers.
• If there are legacy network devices in your network (old Windows version, Samba shares, NAS devices), enable the option “Enable file sharing for devices that use 40-bit or 56-bit encryption”.

image source: woshub

Then go to Settings -> Network and Internet -> Ethernet (or select Wi-Fi, if you are connected to a local network through a wireless connection). Click the network icon and verify that the Make this PC discoverable option is enabled.

image source: woshub

Flush the DNS cache on the computer:

ipconfig /flushdns

To enable the Network Discovery traffic on Windows 10 Defender Firewall, you must run the following command in the elevated command prompt:

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Network Discovery" new enable=Yes

In the Join Domain or Workgroup Wizard that opens, select: This computer is part of a business network -> My company uses a network without a domain -> enter your workgroup name. After that, you need to restart the computer.

If after rebooting the computer appeared in a network environment, but you can’t access it, check the network profile type (location) on your computer. Most likely your local network was recognized as Public. You need to change the network location to Private. To do this, open the Settings -> Network and Internet -> Status -> Homegroup.

image source: woshub

Click Change network location, then select “Yes” in the dialog box “Do you want to allow your PC to be discoverable by other PCs and devices on this network? We recommend allowing this on your home and work network, but not public ones”.

Open the Network and verify that you are now seeing the neighboring Windows computers.

image source: woshub

If these tips did not help, and the computers in the workgroup are still not displayed, try to reset the network settings (Settings -> Network and Internet -> Status -> Network Reset).

image source: woshub

You can also reset the network settings and firewall rules with the commands:

netsh int ip reset reset.txt
netsh winsock reset
netsh advfirewall reset

Then you need to reboot the computer.

 In some cases, you need to completely remove your network adapter using the Device Manager (run the devmgmt.msc console -> Network Adapters -> your network card -> Delete device).

image source: woshub

Then restart your computer. Windows should automatically detect your network adapter and install the appropriate drivers. In this case, all old protocol settings for the network card will be reset.

Also, check whether the following services are running (they should be in the automatic startup state to correctly display your network environment). Run the services.mcs console and check the services state:

• FdPHost – Function Discovery Provider Host (responsible for other computers discovering on the network);
• FDResPub – Function Discovery Resource Publication (allows other computers to detect your device on the network);
• Dnscache – DNS Client;
• SSDPSrv – SSDP Discovery;
• Upnphost – PnP Device Host.

In some cases, third-party anti-viruses and firewalls can block NetBIOS name resolution requests, WDS and broadcast DNS queries (there was definitely a problem with ESET NOD32). Try to temporarily disable your antivirus/firewall and check if the network discovery works properly on your Windows 10 device.

Thank You

By TechyComputer😊