I just recently switched all but one of my PCs to Windows 7 64bit. (I have one XP PC left, it's my utility & test PC.)
I am not using homegroups.
All of my computers show up in Windows Explorer with the exception of my ReadyNAS Pro.
All PCs are set to the same Workgroup name, are on the same home network and switch (no VPNs), to the same gateway (192.168.1.1), and to the same DNS server (OpenDNS).
I can display my ReadyNAS Pro shares in Windows Explorer, but only if I first enter it's IP address(\\192.168.1.55\) in the address bar. I would STRONGLY prefer that it is always visible.
I would also prefer that it display with it's computer name "ReadyNAS" instead of it's IP address, but I'll take what I can get.
Anyone have a solution?
Screen grabs Before entering my ReadyNAS PRo IP address in the Windows Explorer address bar:
Mine showed up immediately on 3 win7 64 bit systems when I first set it up so it should work. Probably some firewall nonsense on the PC. I have my PRO set to be a wins server since it is on all the time, but it worked even before I set that up. The windows shell command nbtstat can be used to ask your wins server what it has for the ip address of your nas (nbtstat -A <nasip>). If for some reason that doesn't show the "name", then make the nas your wins server and restart your PC to see what it looks like then.
I tried enabling WINS but it really messed up the connectivity with my Logitech Squeezeboxes. I do have global settings correct.
I entered "nbtstat -A 192.168.1.55" in a command window and it said "host not found". But I can navigate right to it in Explorer (see photo above). It showed my PC address correctly.
I finally gave up and just mapped the network shares, to frustrating to type in the IP address each time.
"Host not found" means you either can't reach the nas or netbios isn't running on the nas. You seemed to imply that the nas does show up on the XP system though so it must be running. I'd try disabling all antivirus software, firewalls, and defender to see if that makes a difference.
I ran "nbtstat -n" and it did not show up, only my main PC and workgroup name appeared. I tried "nbtstat -a ReadyNAS" and got Host Not Found. Global settings on my Pro are "ReadyNAS". Finally tried NBTstat -c and got "No names in cache".
I am thinking that network discovery is turned off. You can confirm/fix that on the advanced sharing settings in Network and sharing center (control panel).
Here is what is odd, the ReadyNAS shows up as a "Media Device" and also "Storage" in "Network", but it does not show up under the network tab in Explorer, and only in "Computer" after I mapped the shares.
I'd prefer for it to be in Network, but I can learn to live with using the mapped shares I guess.
OK Searching around for a fix to this same issue when i came across this thread. I have a new DUO v2 and a house full Win7 x64 machines. When i first installed the NAS, all the machines found it no problem under Computers, as well as Media Devices and Storage (which if clicked only takes you into Frontview... kind of annoying). Oddly enough I went to check the Network settings in Frontview and noticed that the Workgroup name had been changed to VOLUME from the standard WORKGROUP. I changed it back to WORKGROUP, and refreshed the Network list in Explorer and it immediately showed up in Computers. Problem solved... until a few minutes after and it was changed again to VOLUME. Anybody else seeing this behavior?
I have exactly the same problem described here with Win7 64bit machines and a ReadyNAS Duo. The Duo used to show up in the "Computer" section in "Network" in Explorer, where it was easy to access. I have also mapped the Duo as a network drive, but accessibility is erratic. I noticed that, although Raidar shows a normal mac address, when checked through the nbtstat -a command, it shows as 00-00-00-00-00-00. Is this normal or could it be related to this problem?
I should have made it clear that the Duo used to appear in Explorer, it no longer does so, other than as a Media Device and a Storage Device, neither of which are particularly useful, since they simply direct the computer to Frontview.
I should have made it clear that the Duo used to appear in Explorer, it no longer does so, other than as a Media Device and a Storage Device, neither of which are particularly useful, since they simply direct the computer to Frontview.
I see the same behavior on some computers, but not others - I've never seen an explanation on how Windows decides what a device is, or found any way to change its decision.
My work-around is to put shortcuts on the desktop to each share, and to simply not use the network list in explorer.
I am also having this problem intermitantly and its annoying and frustrating, especially when trying to launch other pprocess that want to browse folders.
Short cuts do not work here and I have too many existing mapped drived to map all my ReadyNAS devices
Was this situation ever resolved? I have exactly the same problem with a recently installed ReadyNAS RN31600. Used as a backup device only. All backups work fine for a while then all fail with the same error:> "The specified network name is no longer available". Manually accessing the ReadyNAS device using it's IP address will display all of the folders & data. Following this all backups will begin working again for an unpredictable period of time. The backups are managed from a Windows 2008 R2 Server. Thanks.
In the backup application I am using "\\nas-F6-00-B2" to access the NAS device.
The name does not display in the Network list. This is not a problem in itself so long as the backups continue to work without requiring periodic manual intervention. I can manually restore the connections simply be entering "\\192.168.34.15" in the Command Window. Following this the NAS device will then be listed in the "Network" by it's IP address exactly as descibed previously in this thread by "jetlag".
In the backup application I am using "\\nas-F6-00-B2" to access the NAS device.
The name does not display in the Network list. This is not a problem in itself so long as the backups continue to work without requiring periodic manual intervention. I can manually restore the connections simply be entering "\\192.168.34.15" in the Command Window. Following this the NAS device will then be listed in the "Network" by it's IP address exactly as descibed previously in this thread by "jetlag".
So the backups are not failing, just that the NAS is not consistently discovered by Windows?
And what happens if you enter \\nas-F6-00-B2in the address bar when the problem occurs?
"Manually restoring connections" is technically very different from "NAS device listed in the Network", so I am trying first to understand if the real problem is only that the NAS device is not listed.
That's basically correct however, earlier today, a backup did fail 3 hours in with "The specified network name is no longer available"
When I type in \\nas-F6-00-B2 I get back \\nas-F6-00-B2 is not accessible. When I then type in \\192.168.34.15 the set of NAS folders opens immediately.
I've queued the failed backup to rerun using \\192.168.34.15 to see if that works any better. This job hasn't started yet.
My NAS backup jobs are all set up to use IP addresses (which are reserved in the router).
\\nasname works reliably on my home PCs, but will sometimes fail on my work laptop (especially if I am connected to the corporate VPN). I doubt that's your problem.
Perhaps when \\nasname fails again, also see if "ping nasname" works (from the windows command line).
