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Windows 10, mapping drive unreliable, slow or fails
I have had onging issues with mapping drives to or accessing my NAS (OS 6.9.3) since switching to Windows 10. Each update to Win 10 aggravated the problem with the latest update to 1803 making the pr...
Re-enabling the SMB 1.0 client might also help, since it drags the legacy windows discovery mechanisms with it.
Thanks,
given that SMB1 has been deprecated because of its poor security & exploitation by malware possibly not a good idea on a portable device that gets connected to other networks in its travels.
I think Win 10 resolves names via DNS or WSD by default. The root cause is probably something to do with the DNS config of my router meaning the NAS doesn't always get registered. If I crack that I will post but in the interim the Hosts file is a simple workaround for anyone else with this problem.
Hi Dorset_tx, thanks for letting know. To control some of the parameters of protocol SMB through the graphical ui you might want to checkout app "smb plus". If you already are using that, don't feel bothered.
Dorset_tx wrote:
I think Win 10 resolves names via DNS or WSD by default. The root cause is probably something to do with the DNS config of my router meaning the NAS doesn't always get registered.
The NAS will respond to WSD discovery requests.
One alternative to enabling SMB 1 is to go to the TCP/IP properties, and look at the WINS tab. The WINS configuration will be blank, but there are a couple of netbios name options lower down. It defaults to getting netbios names from DHCP (not the same as DNS), but you could also try setting netbios over TCP/IP and see if that helps.
In any event, ping -a nas-ip-address will show you the hostname that the PC has (if any). But I have seen times where that resolves correctly, but \\hostname in file explorer still fails.
There are some fairly recent reports with Windows 10 failing ping with case-sensitive names. They are a bit inconsistent - some saying that their systems only work with ping NAS (uppercase), others saying that it only works with lowercase or mixed case (ping nAs for instance). So that's another thing you could look at.
FWIW, Windows network discovery of linux systems has been hit-or-miss in Windows for a long time (well before Windows 10). I've gotten into the habit of just using the IP address (and have set up shortcuts that do that on our family PCs).
Dorset_tx wrote:given that SMB1 has been deprecated because of its poor security & exploitation by malware possibly not a good idea on a portable device that gets connected to other networks in its travels.
Normally Windows will classify those networks as public (certainly the wifi connections), and on public networks SMB defaults to off.
Thanks,
the information about netbios name resolution via DHCP being the default has I think unlocked the mystery. The NAS doesn't appear in the DHCP client list on the router that acts as the DHCP server. The NAS is configured to use DHCP and has a reserved IP address. Other devices also configured this way do appear in the list but it may be that as the NAS is always up and connected gets timed out for some reason.
At the moment the entry in the Hosts file seems to be a reliable fix, making accessing the NAS virtually instant when before even if when it was accessible there would be long pauses in file open/save dialogues.
There is nothing like a NetBIOS name resolution over DHCP. Let's break down things a little bit...
1. If your NAS (configured to a DHCP client) does not show up in your router DHCP table or attached devices or however this is named, something is wrong. This does indicate there is a problem with the DHCP process overall, or with it's regular renewal on your (W)LAN.
2. If your Windows systems struggle to discover or run the WS-Discovery based name resolution, something is wrong. This does indicate there is a problem with IP Multicast on the (W)LAN.
3. If your Windows system fail to recognize NetBIOS host announcements for discovery (permitting the Windows Features "SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support" enable both "SMB 1.0/CIFS Client" _and_ "SMB 1.0/CIFS Server" - the later one is required since newer Windows 10 builds because of the NetBIOS host discovery and name resolution is part of the server) indicate there is a problem with your network IP broadcast.4. If your Windows system fail to resolve host names using NetBIOS (again permitting the Windows Features "SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support" enable both "SMB 1.0/CIFS Client" _and_ "SMB 1.0/CIFS Server" - the later one is required since newer Windows 10 builds because of the NetBIOS host discovery and name resolution is part of the server) indicate there is a problem with your network IP broadcast.
Some routers are maintaining some special local DNS domain, permitting to resolve names using DNS. The host table is automatically propagated from hostname and IP address provided during the DHCP handshake. However, DNS does (by default) always come as second or third, after WSD, after NetBIOS.
Leaving some crazy Internet "security" garbage bugware away, my guess there are some very basic L0...L2 problems on your local network.Tell us more anbout your network, your router, switches, powerline communication, wireless bridges, ... all can be common sources of problems you experience.
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