Cannot connect to, or map network drives

Question

Cannot connect to, or map network drives

graham saunders 20

Six months or more ago, using a Windows 10 Dell laptop, I set up two networked drives (one a WD MyCloud drive and another a Raspberry Pi running a music server as a Samba share. Both drives readily appeared in the "Network" folder and clicking on them provided folder access which could be directly mapped as network drives and then could be accessed on multiple computers connected to my network. Since then (I suspect as a consequence of various Windows updates) one of the drives (WDMyCloud) is only be visible by its web page and cannot now be mapped as a drive and the other cannot be found at all! I have made no changes to the configuration of either drive at any point.

The original shares are still mapped and working and I have noticed that ONLY on one (Windows 11) laptop there is an option to right-click on the WD drive web link in "Network" and map it with "Mount Public Share". This option is missing on my recently upgraded Windows 11 laptop and two other Windows 10 laptops. The other Raspberry Pi shared drive now does not show up at all in my network on any of my computers, but is still accessible on the previously set up mapped shares in the file explorer, so the drive is still working and accessible - it is just not visible in the network folder any more.

This is a problem because I'm about to upgrade my existing Windows 10 computers, but my experience with my first upgrade is that, once I have lost the working mapping to the drives, I can't seem to get them back again in Windows 11! It seems that Windows is now blocking access because I have no problem in getting read-write capability via Android on my phone and tablet.

I have also noticed that the File Explorer window for the "Network" folder in my Windows 10 laptop has a drop-down option for past selections where I can select the Rasperry Pi drive (presumably accessed in the past) as a folder. This is not available in Windows 11.

I am assuming that Windows 10 updates and Windows 11 has deactivated the ability to see and gain access network drives, but how do I repair this? I need to get to the bottom of this before I move further to Windows 11 otherwise I'll have no means of using my drives except by using Android!

Answer accepted by question author

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Answer 1

Hendrix-V 6,465 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi graham saunders,

Thank you for reaching out! We understand how important it is to keep your network drives accessible, especially during system upgrades. Recent Windows 10 updates and Windows 11 security changes have introduced stricter network and SMB (Server Message Block) settings, which can cause devices like WD MyCloud and Raspberry Pi Samba shares to disappear from the Network view, even though existing mapped drives still work.

The good news is that your drives are still functional, and you can restore full access by following these steps:

1 - Enable Network Discovery

Go to Settings → Network & Internet → Advanced sharing settings.

Turn on Network Discovery and File and Printer Sharing.

In Services (services.msc), set these to Automatic (Delayed Start) and Running:

Function Discovery Provider Host
Function Discovery Resource Publication
SSDP Discovery
UPnP Device Host

2 - Map Drives by IP Address

In File Explorer, go to This PC → Map Network Drive.
Enter: \\[Device IP]\[Share Name] (Example: \192.168.1.50\Public)

3 - Adjust SMB Settings

Open Windows Features (optionalfeatures.exe) and enable:
- SMB 1.0/CIFS Client (only if your device requires it).
For WD MyCloud, ensure it supports SMB2 or SMB3.
If needed, disable mandatory SMB signing (safe on trusted home networks).

4 - Update Raspberry Pi Samba Config

If your Raspberry Pi is running Samba for file sharing, older configurations may still default to SMB1, which Windows 10/11 no longer supports. To ensure compatibility:

Ensure your smb.conf includes:
- server min protocol = SMB2
- client min protocol = SMB2
Restart Samba service on the Pi:
- sudo systemctl restart smbd

I look forward to receiving your update and I'm willing to collaborate with you till we resolve the issue. Please keep me informed. If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. Accepting an answer helps us track the effectiveness of our support efforts.

graham saunders 20 Reputation points

2025-09-13T21:50:23.3533333+00:00
Hi Hendrix-V,

Really appreciate your response! I have lost four long and frustrating days trying to fix this!

It has not been easy, but I have now been able to re-install working mapped drives on my Windows 10 AND recently upgraded Windows 11 computer. It's now, however, very clear to me that the recent updating process across Windows 10 and 11 has deliberately eroding away the ability to maintain network drives on home networks by drastically increasing the security requirements and complexity way beyond what is required for domestic and home office uses. I can see that there have been a lot of very frustrated users out there, judging by the web traffic on this and it's only going to get worse as the panic to migrate from Windows 10 (like me!) ramps up before the deadline! For that reason I though I'd give a little more explanation on what worked for me.

As mentioned, the drives, previously showing up in in the "Network" folder (and therefore easily selectable for drive mapping) do not now appear in recently updated Windows 10 machines. For computers still running Windows 10 it was sufficient to initiate your suggested No. 1 (Enable Network Discovery) and to enable SMB 1.0/CIFS Client. After doing this I did find, however, that the "\[Device IP[Share Name]" wasn't acceptable for the Western Digital network drive and it would only connect using the "\[Server Name]\Share Name]" format (e.g. "\WDMYCLOUD\Public").

With my computers operating on Windows 11, the above did not, though, fix the problem, except on a machine that was running an older version of Win 11, but as that updated, the drive connection was lost and it suddenly demanded a username and password to connect to the WD drive (it doesn't have one), initially accepting a made up one, but then (I assume after another update) completely refusing to connect.

It was at this point that I took a look at how to disable mandatory SMB signing as you suggested in your point no. 3. To do this, various website indicate that you should use the "Group Policy Editor" Windows tool (GPEdit.msc). However, it turns out that this tool is not installed in some versions of Windows (such as Home Edition, which I have) and has to be installed using two lines in the command prompt.

See: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/3842434/how-to-enable-the-gpedit-msc-on-windows-10-and-11?page=5#answers.

Once I got GPEdit running, I followed this to remove the offending share restrictions that were preventing access to my network drives:

Using Group Policy Editor (Recommended)

This is the preferred method for managing system policies.

Open the Group Policy Editor: Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter.

Navigate to the policy: Go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options.

Find the policy: Locate the policy named "Microsoft network client: Digitally sign communications (always)".

Disable the policy: Double-click the policy, select Disabled from the dropdown menu, and then click OK.

This is what FINALLY allowed me to successfully gain access and re-map File Explorer addresses for my network drives in the current version of Windows 11 (but at a cost of 4 days of lost income)!!!!

Many thanks, again, for your help - I was on the brink of abandoning any thoughts of upgrading to Windows 11 because of this...

I, and many, many, others it seems can't help but think that Microsoft have royally screwed up here - I hope my experience will prevent others going through this pain...
Hendrix-V 6,465 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-09-13T23:29:41.0566667+00:00

Hi graham saunders,

Thank you for accepting the answer in this thread. Your acknowledgment helps others facing similar situations find useful references and contributes to building a stronger community.

I hope the insights shared in the forum help address your concerns effectively. If you have any updates or further questions, please feel free to share them with us.

Answer 2

djn9921 0

Thank you very much Graham, you just saved me many hours of pain as I had the exact same issue, working now following the steps you outlined there, though there will be many people who will effectively be locked out of their network drives with this change I'm sure.

Answer 3

Just seeing that Windows 11 updates are continuing to create issues with drive shares! My original shares that worked on my only Windows 11 computer stopped working after a new Win 11 update, so I had to go through the above process again and (importantly) install GPEdit to set the SMB signing to disabled, which hadn't been necessary for this computer a few days ago.

This allowed me to access my Raspberry Pi network drive, but the Western Digital MyDrive suddenly requires a User Name and Password (it doesn't have one!). I had to delete the existing shares and then it would accept a WD default user name without a password. Not sure how long that is going to last, though, given the s**tshow that Windows 11 updates are constantly causing with network drives!!! It is really not acceptable to not be sure whether you are going to be able to access critical network drives from one day to the next!!!

I also noticed that the right click menu item "Mount Public Share", which worked three days ago now doesn't...

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Cannot connect to, or map network drives

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