Connecting to External drives on LAN
I have two WD external network drives on my local area network. They are directly connected to my network switch, and each is configured to connect to the same Windows local network name.
However, these devices recently became "hidden" and only by directly referencing them in Windows 10 FIle explorer do they become visible. For example, one is called \\SeltzerServer and it does not appear in the "Computer" section of "This PC". Months ago it did, as did the other drive. One does appear as a "Media Device" and also a "Storage" device. I have created a shortcut to one of the network shares, and that usually works, but there are several network shares, and I do not want to have to create a shortcut for each one.
What is hiding these two external drives? How can I get them to appear on a list of available "computers" like I used to have.
(as it happens, other computers are also not listed in the computer section, even though they used to be listed).
Thank you.
However, these devices recently became "hidden" and only by directly referencing them in Windows 10 FIle explorer do they become visible. For example, one is called \\SeltzerServer and it does not appear in the "Computer" section of "This PC". Months ago it did, as did the other drive. One does appear as a "Media Device" and also a "Storage" device. I have created a shortcut to one of the network shares, and that usually works, but there are several network shares, and I do not want to have to create a shortcut for each one.
What is hiding these two external drives? How can I get them to appear on a list of available "computers" like I used to have.
(as it happens, other computers are also not listed in the computer section, even though they used to be listed).
Thank you.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Some devices rely on helper applications installed on the client - that could be the problem here. Are these installed and still functional?
Are these devices even configured to be recognizable? Sometimes people go through options and turn something off without knowing what it does exactly.
Are these devices even configured to be recognizable? Sometimes people go through options and turn something off without knowing what it does exactly.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Thank you for your help. I am going to leave this as is. I can still connect to the drives, but only by referencing them directly. Something must have changed in Windows, unfortunately.
ASKER
However, I would like to get my network recognizing itself and the devices connected to it. How can I do that?