Category Archives: Windows 10

Cannot browse network neighborhood under Windows 10 Fall Creators update 1709 and newer

Once again, Microsoft has thrown a monkey wrench into the operation of how your network neighborhood (or “Network”) item under Windows 10 works.

I had previously created this blog post which addressed the initial issues with Windows 10 not allowing the Network to show a list of all your local computers.

Well, due to the Fall Creators update and versions 1709 and later, Microsoft has moved even further to stop the use (and functionality) of the Network icon inside windows explorer.

Microsoft has completely disabled (and removed) SMBv1 in Windows 10 (and modern Windows Server 2016) starting with the FALL CREATORS UPDATE build 1709 and later.   This in-effect completely disables the ability for your NETWORK item in Windows Explorer to populate a list of your local network computers.

I manage several small networks and it is EXTREMELY helpful to be able to browse a list of all the local computers.

To fix this issue, go to WINDOWS FEATURES (just use Cortana and type in windows features), expand SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support

CHECK: SMB 1.0/CIFS CLIENT and SERVER

click OK

it will prompt you to reboot

when you’ve rebooted, go to windows file explorer and click on NETWORK.  you may need to hit the refresh icon, but it should pull the list of all local PC’s and magically your network neighborhood will now work!

 

**Note: if you try this and it still doesn’t work, make sure you do the registry entry on my prior blog post (link at the top of this post).  You will need to add that registry key and reboot.

 

1080p HDTV as second monitor display blinks on and off while watching video

I have a second monitor which is a Philips 1080p 40 inch TV (that I switch the HDMI inputs to alternate between cable and a second monitor).

When I play streaming video from YouTube on the monitor, the display blinks on and off continuously.  This does NOT happen when using the Philips for TEXT displays (outlook, explorer, etc.)

The fix is easy.

First, make sure your second monitor (HDTV) is in “PC” mode. (This is not the fix in itself).

Secondly, I have the most current NVIDIA drivers installed.

Go to NVIDIA CONTROL PANEL (right click on an empty desktop)

Click ADJUST DESKTOP COLOR SETTINGS

click on your secondary monitor name (in my case, PHILIPS)

You will see a dropdown box appear.

Set “content reported to the desktop” to “Desktop Programs”.

 

That’s it.

Your secondary monitor should now be rock stable while watching videos.

 

let me know if this helped you!

Solution for Windows cross-subnet browsing issue in mid-2016

**NOTE: as of 12/2017 and the Fall Creator’s Update builds 1709 and later, Microsoft has again broken the functionality of the “Network” (Network Neighborhood) item inside Windows Explorer.  You will probably need to do both add the registry key below, as well as follow the directions in my new post, here.

=========

Hello all-

this is a follow-up to my original post in which I discussed how to setup cross-subnet browsing so that all computers come up in “Network” or “Network Neighborhood”.

For the last few months, my “Network” browse list has disappeared and would ONLY show computers from my LAN subnet.  My remote (VPN-to-VPN) network subnet disappeared from my “Network” computer list.

After >>MUCH<< research I have found the problem and will present the solution.

The problem is due to the Microsoft Windows Update (for both desktop and server OS’s) KB3161949  (read about it here).

Part of the effect of this update was to “harden” the NETBIOS service and prevent NETBIOS data from being sent between subnets.

 

THE SOLUTION:

Two ways of handling this.

  1. You can remove this specific hotfix
  2. You can add a registry setting to override it.

(YOUR CHOICE)

To REMOVE the hotfix:

On SERVERS:  Go to Control Panel, Uninstall a program, View Installed Updates… Remove 3161949.  You’ll need to reboot.  After rebooting, go check for windows updates again (MANUALLY)  3161949 will pop up.  Right click and HIDE UPDATE.

On Desktops:  Same process as above – HOWEVER – Depending on which version of windows, which OS Rollup you are on, 3161949 might not show up.  If you cannot remove 3161949, simply add the registry key below.

–OPTIONAL METHOD–

Involves a registry key addition, then you need to reboot the machine.

SUBKEY: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters
Value Name: AllowNBToInternet
Type: Dword
Value: 1

 

** REMEMBER TO REBOOT after you do either the uninstall or registry key.

** It will take 5-60 minutes for the Network browse lists to refresh

*** MOST IMPORTANT ***

You MUST do this on your domain servers (Master Browsers) on each side of the subnet.  For example, I have for domain servers, two on each side.  I did this procedure on both, then rebooted all four domain servers.

Then I did this on my Windows 10 Pro workstation (via registry key) and rebooted.

When I checked my computer 30 minutes later, all machines were showing up in the browse list under “Network” in Windows 10.

** ADDITIONAL NOTE:  Just for the heck of it, you might as while put that registry key onto all your domain servers.  Even though I had uninstalled 3161949 from all 4 of my domain servers (and hidden that update), one of my DC’s re-applied that patch and rebooted, thereby messing up my Network list again.  So I just went and put that reg key onto all 4 DC’s just in case they get that update somehow in the future.

** NOTE: Do this at your own risk.  I’m not responsible for your network security.  You have to make the decision on what’s more important to you here.  Being able to see the entire cross-subnet network, or security.  I can’t speak as to how this increases or decreases your security risk.

Let me know if any questions…

PFSENSE 2.3 PPTP VPN passthru workaround

PFSense 2.3.x and up have removed the PPTP tab, and PPTP passthru options.  This is because PPTP has been depreciated and it not considered 100% safe anymore.

For those of you still in need of using PPTP passthru to allow Windows VPN remote users into your LAN, here is the easy workaround.

  1. Firewall, NAT, Port forward.
    1. add port forward from WAN (presumably your outside interface name)
      1. TCP
      2. WAN ADDRESS
      3. DEST PORT RANGE=PPTP 1723
      4. REDIRECT TARGET IP=the internal IP of your Windows RRAS server.
      5. REDIRECT TARGET PORT=1723
      6. Allow it to ADD ASSOCIATED FILTER RULE for this entry
      7. SAVE
    2. add another rule, exactly the same as above EXCEPT for GRE.  All the same settings, but use GRE
  2. Once that is complete, go look at your WAN firewall rules.  You should have two new auto-created rules.  One for PPTP and one for GRE.
  3.  Remote users should now be able to connect just fine through PFSENSE 2.3.x into your Windows RRAS server.

Remember, using PPTP in 2016 is considered a risk, so do it at your own risk.  Please consider moving towards a newer VPN standard with better security.

How to Migrate Office 2013 or 2016 to new computer

I recently upgraded my workstation to a new computer running Windows 10 Pro.  I needed to move over my Outlook 2016 email accounts and calendars to the new location.

 

This is a very easy process.

  1. Install Office 2013 or 2016 on the new computer.
  2. Run windows updates
  3. Make sure both computers are not currently in Outlook
  4. Copy the entire outlook data folder to your new computer.  I am not providing directions for this.  You should know what your doing here (or use google).
  5. Now you will have a copy of outlook data (PST’s) in both locations.
  6. Copy over any internet shared calendars from your old machine to the new machine.  File location is here, and it would be sitting in the root if it exists:
    1. C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
  7. On your old machine run REGEDIT.  EXPORT this entire key which contains all your email account settings.
    1. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Profiles\Outlook
    2. Note: If you are on a different version of outlook the version 16.0 will be a different number.
  8. Copy that REG file to your new PC and double click and let it insert it into the registry
  9. Move over any signatures from your old computer to your new computer.  Those are located here:
    1. C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures
    2. Note: You probably should just copy the entire folder and paste it in the same place on your new PC.
  10. Launch Outlook on the new PC.  Pick your profile and set as default.  Then go update each accounts’ passwords.  Once you update the passwords you will be able to resume doing email exactly as you were doing it on the old PC.

 

All computers do not show up under Network Neighborhood across subnets Windows 2008 Server and Windows 2012 Server

THE ISSUE – NETWORK DOES NOT SHOW ALL COMPUTERS FROM MULTIPLE SUBNETS

 

**NOTE:  10/11/16 Please see this new blog post which addresses a new issue that has happened since June 2016.  Both of these posts will help you resolve this cross-subnet browsing issue.

I recently ran into the situation where my PDC failed and after promoting a second DC to PDC all the computers in both my branches would not show up under the Windows 7 network.

What would happen is that the computers from branch 1 would all show up under branch 1 on that network, and the computers from branch 2 would only show up on branch 2’s network.

Both networks are in the same domain and are connected via a Point to Point firewall VPN tunnel, and both offices are on different local internal IP subnets, such as:

branch 1:  192.168.55.X

branch 2: 192.168.56.X

Logins and domain replication is working fine, and even the DNS servers I have set to properly replicate the data between them, but still the “network” list only shows the local subnet not both.

THE SOLUTION

Firstly, you need to determine which machine for sure is the PDC emulator on your network.  On our network we have two Windows 2008 R2 servers.

to do this, follow this procedure:

Using the Windows interface on your windows server

1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. Right-click the domain node, and then click Operations Masters.

3. On the PDC tab, under Operations masters, view the operations masters that will serve as the PDC emulator.

 

Secondly, to complete the solution (snipped from the website linked below…)

4. You can either set the Computer Browser service to Automatic on the DC holding the PDC role, or move the PDC role to another DC that has the Computer Browser service started.  So using the info gleaned from above, log in to the PDC computer, go to SERVICES and START the computer browser service, and set it to AUTOMATIC.

You will need File and Printer sharing On in the Network and Sharing Center, otherwise the Computer Browser service will fail to start since the required ports will not be open.  In a multiple subnet environment, make sure WINS is configured properly so that you have the proper NetBIOS name resolution.  After making the corrections, the computers holding the master browser roles will begin to populate the browse list for the entire network.

NOTE:  In my situation with two subnets it was NOT necessary to run WINS to have a proper solution.

Lastly, wait anywhere from 30-60 minutes and the computers from both subnets (or more) should all now show up under “NETWORK” on your Windows network.

 

(some information courtesy of this blog)