Getting Windows 10 computer to find mapped drives

[ctviggen]

I have been having this issue forever.  My windows (now Windows 10) computers have a hard time finding mapped drives that are on my unraid server. That is, I might have to wait a while after getting into windows or even use "\\ServerName", and sometimes have to perform trouble shooting.  At some point, the computers will find the mapped drives on the server.

 

I have the Dynamix Local Master installed.  Oddly, the server is not shown as the master now, I'm not sure why.  (How do I correct this?) Normally, it does not matter, though, as even if the server is shown as the master, the windows computers still can't find the server initially.

 

I have a Netgear router that assigns IP addresses.  I've made many of the IP addresses in the house as fixed, including the server's. 

 

I have a Netgear managed "smart" switch too.  I'm supposed to be able to log into this, but cannot.  (They provide a tool to find the switch; it finds nothing. This might be because the default IP address for the switch is 196.168.0.x, and my network is 198.168.1.x. Or that part of the switch might be bad or need a firmware upgrade.)

 

There should be nothing else on the network that could be a "master".

 

How do I begin debugging this?

 

In particular, could the Netgear managed smart switch be the reason windows computers can't initially find the server? 

 

(I ask this question because debugging this could take a long while.  Multiple possible steps, including taking down/reconfiguring the whole network.)

 

Thanks for any guidance.

 

PS-- This is more of an issue now that everyone is home due to covid-19 and we have 6 computers trying to access the server.

[Frank1940]

4 hours ago, ctviggen said:

I have the Dynamix Local Master installed.  Oddly, the server is not shown as the master now, I'm not sure why.  (How do I correct this?) Normally, it does not matter, though, as even if the server is shown as the master, the windows computers still can't find the server initially.

See here:

 

       https://forums.unraid.net/topic/89452-windows-issues-with-unraid/?tab=comments#comment-515625

 

You definitely want your Unraid server to be the Local Master.  One way to help assure this to implement the force solution above and to even leave the server on 24x7.  If you spin the drives down and don't have a lot of Dockers running, or graphics cards, most modern CPU's will actually consume very little power.  Letting the Local Master wander around a large network will cause delay problems as you boot up a client.  (I suspect that the clients store the information of which computer was the Local Master when they shutdown.  If it has changed, then it has to 'find' which is the new one and, perhaps even, forcing a local election.)

 

I have a mapped drive and it seems to be available as soon as the WIN10 Pro (ver 1909) boots up.   This drive is mapped from a public share which does not require an log-in.