Member Avatar for pmsik

I am running a wired PC and a wireless Laptop in a simple home network, both with Vista installed.
Everything was working fine until I changed my Speedtouch 780i router for a Fritz!box fon Wlan 7170.
Fritz shows me the whole network but Windows Explorer shows only the own computer in the Networkmap.
All the settings are unchanged.
Detection is on as is filesharing; domainnames are alike etc.
What can be the reason for not showing the other computer on both systems?

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Dani AI

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Good follow-up to and good pointer from about browser elections. When Vista shows only the local machine in Network Map the root causes are usually discovery/browse protocol problems on Windows or broadcast/isolation behavior in the network equipment. The checklist below gives concise, repeatable checks and fixes that go beyond simply "turn detection on."

Quick diagnostic checklist (run these in an elevated command prompt where needed):

  • Verify basic IP connectivity: ipconfig /all and ping <other-IP> to ensure both hosts are on the same subnet.
  • See what the SMB browse list returns: net view and net view \\<other-IP>; use nbtstat -n and nbtstat -A <other-IP> to inspect NetBIOS name registrations.
  • Confirm required services are running: Computer Browser, TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, and the Link‑Layer Topology Discovery mapper/responder (LLTD) plus SSDP/UPnP services if the Network Map is empty.
  • Check firewall rules: allow File and Printer Sharing and Network Discovery for the active network profile. Disable third‑party security temporarily to test.

Router/AP and topology checks:

  • Some consumer routers implement AP/client isolation, guest VLANs, or block broadcasts/multicast — these will hide wired hosts from wireless clients (and vice versa). Ensure wired and wireless clients are on the same LAN/VLAN and that any client isolation feature is off.
  • If multicast forwarding/IGMP snooping or UPnP settings exist, try toggling them; LLTD and browse announcements can be sensitive to these.

Practical workarounds and next steps:

  • Access shares by IP (\\192.168.x.y) or map drives to avoid reliance on the browse list.
  • To force a browser election briefly stop the Computer Browser service on other machines, then restart it on the machine you want as master (use with caution; it temporarily disrupts browsing).
  • If the problem persists, capture outputs of net view, nbtstat -n, nbtstat -A <IP>, arp -a and Event Viewer System logs for targeted troubleshooting.

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Member Avatar for DimaYasny

master browser issues
can you access the other pc by it's ip?

Member Avatar for pmsik

I can now. It kind of solved itself after I played with some authorization settings.
May be they needed renewal into the new situation.

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