Shared folders not showing up in File Explorer

[mjw72652]

I have two HP laptops connected via an Ethernet switch. I am using the current version of Windows 10 home. One laptop, which I will call main, has two external USB 3.0 hard drives. I have turned file sharing on for everyone on both of these drives, as well as sharing also turned on on a number of folders on these drives. I have additionally mapped three of the folders as drives on the second computer which I will call backup. Both computers show as connected to the same network. When I first set up the sharing, I could see the shared drives and folders in File Explorer under Network. Somewhere along the line, the shared folders stopped showing up on either laptop. I did a network reset on both, and the shared files reappeared on both. This is when I  mapped the three folders as drives, and they show up on backup under my PC, and I am able to access all three mapped drives, and all subfolders show up on all three mapped drives just fine. However, once again the shared folders no longer show up under network in the navigation pane on either laptop. This hinders accessing any of the non-mapped folders. Both computers show up just fine in the network on both laptops, as well as showing up as media devices on both.

How can I stop the shared folders from disappearing from view without having to keep resetting my networks?

[praveen196]

@mjw72652 Welcome to HP Community!

I understand that you are unable to see the Shared folders on the file explorer.

If you set up sharing correctly, your PC should see shared folders in Windows 10. If you cannot see them, perform these checks.

1. Make sure your computers are using the same network.
2. Make sure IPv6 is enabled on all computers.
3. Make sure Network discovery is enabled on all computers.
4. Make sure File and printer sharing is enabled on all computers.
5. Toggle Turn on password protected sharing to off and retest.
6. Make sure you are logging in using the same account you entered when you added users to Share with.
7. If you use Windows Defender Firewall, open the Firewall app, select Allowed apps and ensure File and Printer Sharing is allowed to pass.

If none of those work, make sure all networking services are running. The following services should all be set to Automatic and be currently running:

• DNS Client
• Function Discovery Provider Host
• Function Discovery Resource Publication
• HomeGroup Provider
• HomeGroup Listener
• Peer Networking Grouping
• SSDP Discovery
• UPnP Device Host

Even though Homegroup has now been removed from Windows 10, it is still mentioned throughout the operating system.

If your PC still cannot see shared folders in Windows 10, check the credentials in the computer you are trying to access files from.

1. Open Control Panel, User Accounts and Credential Manager.
2. Select Windows Credentials and Add a Windows credential.
3. Add the IP address of the PC hosting the file and the admin username and password of that PC.
4. Select OK to save.

Keep us posted,

If you would like to thank us for our efforts to help you, 

Give us a virtual high-five by clicking the 'Thumbs Up' icon below, followed by clicking on the "Accept as solution" on this post, 

Have a great day!

[mjw72652]

I have already done all of the things you have suggested. Sometimes the shared folders show up in File Explorer, sometimes they don't. It's an all or nothing thing- sometimes they show up on both laptops in the network section of File Explorer, sometimes they show up in neither. They never show up on just one laptop and not the other. Sometimes they will spontaneously disappear for no reason, with neither laptop having been rebooted or restarted. If I reset the networks on both machines they reappear. I have successfully mapped a number of the folders as drives on the second computer, and even when the shared folders do not show up in File Explorer I can still access them as the mapped drives. It would seem to me that the problem is in File Explorer and not in the network itself.

[praveen196]

@mjw72652

Thank you for the update.

Please click on start and search for PowerShell.

Open PowerShell as Administrator and type or copy-paste the following command inside your PowerShell window:

Get-AppxPackage -allusers | foreach {Add-AppxPackage -register "$($_.InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode}

Try creating a new user account on your computer.

Go to http://hp.care/2dWJKgW  and follow the steps to create a new user account.

Have a nice day!!

[mjw72652]

Today I needed to reboot my main laptop, the one that has the hard drive with the shared folders. After it booted up, neither of the two machines would show the shared folders under the network in the navigation pane. The 8 mapped folders all show up in the backup machine in This PC in its File Explorer. 6 of them showed up as shared, two were xed out with red x. However, double clicking on any of them, including the red x drives, opens the drive up and shows all the folders on the drive, and they can all be opened and read from or copied to, so all my shares and all my permissions are operating just fine- it's just that File Explorer will not show them on either machine. I downloaded and tried four different File Explorer replacements, Q-Dir, Xplorer2, Total Command, and Directory Opus. None of these will show the shared folders in the navigation pane either.

Additionally, the computers themselves are not showing up as network devices in File Explorer on either machine. However, they both show up as media devices on both machines.

When I reset my network adapters, the shared folders showed up again on both machines, as did the laptops themselves as network devices.

I am going to install the Appxpackage through Powershell now.

Since I can access everything through the mapped drives on the backup laptop, this has become more of a major annoyance than an real operating problem, but things are supposed to work properly without jumping through hoops, aren't they?

[praveen196]

@mjw72652

I understand your concerns.

In that case, I would suggets you conatct our phone support and check for the support option. They will help you,

Here is how you can get in touch with phone support.

1)Click on this link - www.hp.com/contacthp/

2)Select the product type.

3)Enter the serial number of your device or select let HP detect your product option.

4)Select the country from the drop-down.

5)You should see the HP phone support number or Chat option listed.

We are experiencing longer than expected wait times to reach an agent due to the CoViD-19 impact and there might have been issues in you getting the expected resolution on the issue. 

Have a nice day!!