A few days ago I completed a Windows Update and now no other devices showing up on the network list in Windows Explorer (WE). Everything was working properly until I did an update and rebooted. Now no devices are showing under the network list in WE (except my PC). The problem is an issue for me because I can no longer use remote desktop to access my server. Network Devices: - “Master PC” is my Windows 7 desktop - “Home-Server” is my WHS backup server that I connect via WHS Connect - “Norcoserver” is my WHS media server that I connect via remote desktop - “PCH-C200” is my network connected Popcorn Hour media player which can stream videos from Master PC and Norcoserver - “Laptop” is my Windows 7 laptop connected to the Windows 7 homegroup - “WNDR3700” is my Netgear GigE/wireless router Troubleshooting Steps taken so far - Verified there are no exclamation !, ? or X symbols in device manager - Verified UPnP enabled on WNDR3700 router - Verified all network devices detected in router - Verified network discovery is turned on - Verified file and printing sharing is turned on - Verified public folder sharing is turned on - Verified password protection is not enabled - Verified Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper I/O Driver and Link-Layer Topology Discovery Responder are checked - Turned on Mapper I/O (LLTDIO) Driver and Turn On Responder (RSPNDR) policy by selecting “Enabled” and “Allow Operation While In Domain” in the Local Group Policy Editor - Media streaming says it is on, however when I click “choose media streaming options”, it says “media streaming is not turned on” - Only using Win7 Firewall, verified the proper ports are open as usual with printer/file sharing turned on - WHS Home-Server and Norcoserver can be successfully pinged from Master PC - PCH-C200 can access content on Master PC and Norcoserver via the network flawlessly - Laptop can see Master PC listed under network in WE, but not Home-Server and Norcoserver - Can successfully connect to Home-Server using WHS Connect - My network map shows Master PC – WNDR3700 – Internet. It says the following devices cannot be placed on the network map: o Norcoserver: 1 : Windows Media Connect o Home-Server: 1 : Windows Media Connect o Norcoserver o Home-Server o PCH-200 - When I click on Network in WE, I see the following: o Computer (1) Master PC o Media Devices (3) Norcoserver: 1 : Windows Media Connect, Home-Server: 1 : Windows Media Connect, PCH-200 o Network Infrastructer (1) WNDR3700 (Gateway) o Other Devices (2) Norcoserver, Home-Server o Looking at the above, obviously it’s curious why Norcoserver and Home-Server are show both as “media devices” and “other devices” I am at a loss right now. I have no idea what to do or how to troubleshoot. I am really hoping for some help. Thanks all.

Bumping up ... added more info, hoping for some help. THANKS

Hello Roger, According to the research, the mapped drive lost issue may be caused by the several possible reasons: Possible reason1. The problematic client doesn't reconnect to the target share at logon. Please follow the steps to re-configure the mapped driver on the client and then check if the issue will re-occur. Steps: a. Open "My Computer" b. Click on "Tools" and then select "Map Network Driver" c. input the \\ipaddressofserver\sharename to give the path of the share d. Check "Reconnect at logon" e. Drive gets mapped f. Double click on the drive to check. Possible Reason 2. Antivirus software or Windows Firewall may block the SMB protocol on clients. Please check if there is any Antivirus software and the Windows Firewall is enabled on the problematic client. If so, please disable them to check if the issue can be resolved. Possible Reason3. Fast Logon Optimization is enabled on the clients. The fast logon feature may affect the display and drive letter assignment of a mapped network drive. As a result, the drive may have been mapped; however, the user on client cannot see it in Windows Explorer. He may recognize it as a failed network drive mapping. This is the reason why we usually suggest you to disable fast logon on the clients via a GPO, and please check if the mapped network drive will be occur under this circumstance. Please also configure the following group policy setting to disable Fast Logon Optimization to see if the issue still exists on the problematic clients. Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Logon\Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon When this policy is enabled, a Windows XP client behaves in the same manner as a Windows 2000 client at both system startup and at user logon. Please note: As this is a computer configuration, please run "Gpupdate /force" and then reboot the problematic clients to make it take into effect. For more information about Fast Logon Optimization feature, please check the following KB article. 305293 Description of the Windows XP Professional Fast Logon Optimization feature http://support.microsoft.com/?id=305293 831998 Mapped network drive shows no drive letter or will not allow you to create new long-named files or folders http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831998 297684 Mapped Drive Connection to Network Share May Be Lost http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297684 If the issue still exists on the problematic clients, please also try adding the following registry subkey on the problematic client to check it works. Steps: a. Click Start, click Run, type REGEDIT, and then click OK. b. Locate and click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache c. Click Edit, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. d. Type SilentForcedAutoReconnect , and then press ENTER to name the value. e. Double-click SilentForcedAutoReconnect . f. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK. Please feel free to let me know if you have any concen. Hope the information can be helpful for you.Thanks and Regards Scorpio_Milo MCTS: Windows Vista | Exchange Server 2007 MCITP: Enterprise Support Technician MCITP: Server & Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Infrastructure Consultant Enterprise Service: Solution Architect Microsoft Storage Team - File Cabinet Blog My Blog

Hi Scorpio, Thank you for the reply. Before I received your information, I was doing research. I read that you can access shared devices on the network via Windows Explorer by simply typing \\devicename So I tried that on my Master PC (my Win7 desktop that I always use). I opened Windows Explorer, typed \\Norcoserver (my media streaming WHS) and sure enough it suddenly appeared under "Network". I did the same for my Home-Server (my WHS backup server), it too showed up in Windows Explorer under "Network". But that doesn't mean the root issue has been solved. I've looked at the Event Viewers from BOTH of my WHS servers and found they are experiencing the exact same errors: (Warning message) Source: Browser EventID: 8021 Message: The browser service was unable to retrieve a list of servers from the browser master \\PCH-C200 on the network \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{5960D29F-3C02-4B8D-87FC-56DA24E1C3CC}. Browser master: \\PCH-C200 Network: \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{5960D29F-3C02-4B8D-87FC-56DA24E1C3CC} This event may be caused by a temporary loss of network connectivity. If this message appears again, verify that the server is still connected to the network. The return code is in the Data text box. (Error message follows the Warning message) Source: Browser EventID: 8032 Message: The browser service has failed to retrieve the backup list too many times on transport \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{5960D29F-3C02-4B8D-87FC-56DA24E1C3CC}. The backup browser is stopping. Once again, note these errors occurred on BOTH of my WHS servers, and they began occurring ont the EXACT same date. I did some troubleshooting in cmd to see if I could learn more about what's going on. I ran cmd and found I could ping all my devices from my Master PC. Those devices include my Norcoserver (streaming WHS server), Home-Server (backup WHS server) and my PCH-C200 (Popcorn Hour networked media player). When I run nbtstat -a followed by each device name, I can see that my Popcorn Hour PCH-C200 was "elected" as Master Browser. However, the Popcorn Hour PCH-C200 is not a regular computer device. Instead, it's just an intelligent media streamer that connects to network shares on the network in order to stream media over the network to my HDTV. So I guess the question is, does having the PCH-C200 as the Master Browser cause conflicts with Windows 7 and/or WHS? Also, would issues around the Master Browser be a cause why my network shares were no longer showing up under "Network" in Windows Explorer? Thanks for your help.

Bumping up ... still looking for feedback. Right now, I am trying to find out if a certain device on my network which has been "elected" as "aster Browser can cause conflict (as it looks above), and subsequently if this can be the cause why my network shares were no longer showing up under "Network" in Windows Explorer? More info above.

Hi, 1) check your client routing table first. open cmd > netstat -s -r 5 pathping destination. see if there is any blockage., then use this command to test net share net use z: \\ipaddressofserver\sharename after triggering this command you should see errors or drive mapped successfully. :) will be willing to assist you further :) it shouldnt be that tough :)Guowen Su | CCNA, CCIP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCTS, MCITP, CEH | http://www.microsoft.com/en/sg/default.aspx Our Goal? VERY SATISFIED Customers. If you're not...let's talk!!

Thank you very much Guowen Su for your reply. I ran your tests and can share results if you'd like. However, two days ago I noticed my network shares are now showing up under "Network" in Windows Explorer. They had suddenly disappeared right after a Windows update. After seeing the network shares again in Windows Explorer, I went to cmd and ran nbtstat - a (device name) for each of my devices. I could see that the MASTER BROWSER status had now been assumed by one of my Windows Home Servers (called Home-Server). Previously, when my network shares disappeared, the MASTER BROWSER role was being assumed by my Popcorn Hour PCH-C200 (a network-connected media streamer). At that time, I looked in the WHS Event Viewer for BOTH my WHS servers and found the exact same messages (see below): (Warning message) 10:12am Source: Browser EventID: 8021 Message: The browser service was unable to retrieve a list of servers from the browser master \\PCH-C200 on the network \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{5960D29F-3C02-4B8D-87FC-56DA24E1C3CC}. Browser master: \\PCH-C200 Network: \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{5960D29F-3C02-4B8D-87FC-56DA24E1C3CC} This event may be caused by a temporary loss of network connectivity. If this message appears again, verify that the server is still connected to the network. The return code is in the Data text box. (Error message) 10:13am Source: Browser EventID: 8032 Message: The browser service has failed to retrieve the backup list too many times on transport \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{5960D29F-3C02-4B8D-87FC-56DA24E1C3CC}. The backup browser is stopping. After the MASTER BROWSER role was assumed by my WHS Home-Server, the above messages stopped and the network shares started showing up again under "Network" in Windows Explore. So that leads me to believe that there my be conflicts when a 3rd party devices is elected as MASTER BROWSER. Has anyone heard of this?

Hi MR Roger :) Thanks for sharing :) I did some research on the event id which you have provided me. Kindly see below details. Hope the below explain and is able to assist you with troubleshooting :) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/135404 This problem occurs when one or more of the following is true: Your computer performs an acting role as a master browser because of a forced election. Your computer network cards are linked to the same subnet. Your computer network cards are not linked directly to the same subnet, but are linked indirectly to the same subnet through other subnets that they are connected to. The master browser is using an incorrect subnet mask. Note A virtual network adaptor (NLB/WLBS) could make a system logically multihomed. Also, active Routing and Remote Access or VPN connections on a computer make it multihomed. Back to the top Troubleshooting Typically, these browser events appear every two hours. However, these browser events may not always have a major affect on the system's browser functionality. Use the following guidelines to troubleshoot these events. Multihomed browsers For correct browser operation, you should not operate multihomed Windows NT 4.0 PDCs or Windows 2000 and later PDC Emulators. . Do not make a server multihomed if that server performs an active browser role. Make sure the Computer Browser service is disabled on multihomed computers. See the "Workaround" section for information about how to disable the Computer Browser service. Guowen Su | CCNA, CCIP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCTS, MCITP, CEH | http://www.microsoft.com/en/sg/default.aspx Our Goal? VERY SATISFIED Customers. If you're not...let's talk!!