New Win11 laptop won't fully recognize existing home network

I hate that I always have really complicated problems and my posts go long. It results in people not wanting to read all of it. Please follow along. I'll be as brief as possible.

When it comes to networks, I'm out of my depth. To start off, I had a Windows 8.1 laptop that I was able to connect to my home network. I could access shared folders on my Windows Vista desktop, a shared external drive, and a network MyCloud device. I knew changing the battery on my laptop would cause issues so I backed it up to a WD MyCloud device. Attempting to fix the battery toasted the computer and hard drive so I had to buy a new Win11 laptop.

I've reinstalled some stuff that can be downloaded from the internet. Now I'm trying to access those shared folders and my MyCloud and here is where I'm stuck. At first, I could see my file and folder shares in Win11's File Explorer, but I couldn't access them. I found that my Vista desktop had been switched to a Public Network. I changed it back to a Private Network named Network 1 and that made a partial fix, but I'm now lost. Using my desktop, I tried to copy the backup folder from the MyCloud to both the external drive (H:) and a folder on drive (D:). I also shared those folders and gave Everyone Full Access. This only complicated the issue.

In File Explorer:
I can see and access almost all of the shared folders on my desktop. I can see disk drive D:, the external drive H:, and the folder I shared that's on the D: drive, but I don't have permission to access them.



The MyCloud is not visible in File Explorer, but it is visible in the Network Device list.

I cannot find a network map on Windows 11 to find out what it's even seeing on the network. When I run the Network Troubleshooter, it doesn't find an issue. But it only seems to be making sure I'm connected to the internet. I find no way to make this Win11 laptop recognize the home network Network 1. Could it be an internet-only device? This is all I can see for my Private Network setting in Win11.



On my Vista desktop, I can see a Network Map and it doesn't find the laptop on the network at all.

Soooo....

How is it that Win11 can see the MyCloud device in one spot but not in File Explorer?
How is it that Win11 can now access previously shared folders, but not the newly shared ones?
Why can't my desktop recognize the Win11 device in its own network map?

I now have my backups in three locations that I can't access for recovery. Because of these issues, Acronis can't connect to the backup files themselves. The MyCloud might be accessible if I can find MyCloud software for a device that's now out of support.

I do need to access all the devices so that I can consolidate everything onto one device and possibly get rid of the old desktop.

Please, please, please help me.

Only suggestion I can give about the permission problem is to turn off password protected sharing in all machines and change permissions on the shared folders to "everyone".

As far as a device not showing in network map, see if you can access other devices using their ip addresses or computername.
Open File Explorer and in its address bar type //JoeBlowPC (computer name) or //192.168.1.130 (IP address of shared computer)
You can create a shortcut on the desktop if you want if these methods work..
Note: If the ip method works I advise you assign static ip addresses to your devices, especially the wireless ones, so that their ip addresses do not change

Does MyCloud storage needs a drive letter to be visible to Windows Explorer ? (like Google Drive)

Does this help any?

Full Guide to WD My Cloud on Windows 11: Setup and Access

Having no need to access specific computers on my network I use a NAS drive attached to the Router and Map a folder on it on any computer connected to the Router whether Wired or Wireless/Wi-Fi. I store files and downloads on the NAS drive that I may need. The NAS is a 2TB RAID 1, contains 2 x 2TB drives for 2TB storage. Years ago such as Win95/Win98 or WinNT days a networked drive would have the drive letter assigned as Z: then work back up the alphabet when more drives were added, sometime later it became easier to assign random letters as desired. Disk Management doesn't show NAS drives but Mapping a NAS drive under This PC will allow the lettering as desired and appears different computers have different letters for the same folder on the drive.

glasskuter said:

Only suggestion I can give about the permission problem is to turn off password protected sharing in all machines and change permissions on the shared folders to "everyone".

As far as a device not showing in network map, see if you can access other devices using their ip addresses or computername.
Open File Explorer and in its address bar type //JoeBlowPC (computer name) or //192.168.1.130 (IP address of shared computer)
You can create a shortcut on the desktop if you want if these methods work..
Note: If the ip method works I advise you assign static ip addresses to your devices, especially the wireless ones, so that their ip addresses do not change

Click to expand...

I already have password protected sharing turned off and I've set the shares for "Everyone" as well as setting the permissions to Full Control.

Regarding the network map, my problem in Windows 11 is that I can't find a network map. It's my Vista machine that has a map which doesn't show the Win11 laptop. This seems to indicate an issue with the laptop not being seen as present on the network. I can't even find a place in Win11 to show that it even identifies my network, even if it does find the devices on it. When I open the device in the Network Devices list, I am taken, by IP address, to a Twonky configuration page for the MyCloud, but do not have access to the actual data being stored on the device.

idgat said:

Does MyCloud storage needs a drive letter to be visible to Windows Explorer ? (like Google Drive)

Click to expand...

It never has before. It's a separate network device, like a server, only much smaller and stands alone. It isn't like a shared drive on a computer. It seems like you're asking if I could map it to a drive letter, but that's difficult if the computer won't find the device to map it.

MisterEd said:

Does this help any?

Full Guide to WD My Cloud on Windows 11: Setup and Access

Click to expand...

This looks promising, but I'm at work right now and will see later. The part about credential manager seems interesting. It's new to me.

Berton said:

Disk Management doesn't show NAS drives but Mapping a NAS drive under This PC will allow the lettering as desired and appears different computers have different letters for the same folder on the drive.

Click to expand...

I misspoke on that part, should have said Mapping a NAS drive on the right-click of This PC in File Explorer, would be clearer.

Berton said:

Having no need to access specific computers on my network I use a NAS drive attached to the Router and Map a folder on it on any computer connected to the Router whether Wired or Wireless/Wi-Fi. I store files and downloads on the NAS drive that I may need. The NAS is a 2TB RAID 1, contains 2 x 2TB drives for 2TB storage. Years ago such as Win95/Win98 or WinNT days a networked drive would have the drive letter assigned as Z: then work back up the alphabet when more drives were added, sometime later it became easier to assign random letters as desired. Disk Management doesn't show NAS drives but Mapping a NAS drive under This PC will allow the lettering as desired and appears different computers have different letters for the same folder on the drive.

Click to expand...

I believe the MyCloud qualifies as a NAS drive. It too is connected directly to the router. The two desktop computers, the former laptop that just died, and even my TV can access it without issue. It is a 3 TB device and I've never needed to map it as a drive.

However, this laptop only sees it as a device in the device list, but can't see it in File Explorer. With that problem, I can't even map it to a drive letter.

I was able to find the MyCloud software on one of the shared folders it would access and installed it to this computer. Only when I go through the software does it open File Explorer and show the MyCloud device. However, right-clicking doesn't provide the option to map the drive. I was able to find my backups, but still haven't been able to access them with Acronis, but that's another forum's discussion. This doesn't change the problem though. I still want to use the drive so I must be able to access it if I'm ever going to be able to use it for backups. I can't use my Acronis to back anything up to any device outside of this laptop. The laptop is not recognizing that it's part of a network of devices.

MisterEd said:

Does this help any?

Full Guide to WD My Cloud on Windows 11: Setup and Access

Click to expand...

I tried adding credentials to Windows 11 but still couldn't get past any of my roadblocks.

AndyTampa said:

I believe the MyCloud qualifies as a NAS drive

Click to expand...

Yes, it does. I used to have 2 x 2TB My Cloud NAS drives until WD alerted security issues and the software for them couldn't be updated. They still work after I took them out of the case and cleaned them. One drive is in a Desktop for data storage and the other is available.

I didn't Map the drive but a Folder on the drive, example is in the Map Network drive choice on the right-click of This PC, e.g. \\mycloud1\Public\

I don't think you're understanding. You keep saying right-click, but there's nothing to right-click on.

However, I found a video that seems to have gotten me closer to what I was looking for. Unfortunately, it caused a reboot. In Windows Features, I had to enable the SMB 1.0 protocol. Every time this thing restarts, I lose my place and have to restart my thinking too.

Now the Network Drive and my other computer shows up in an instant and I can access most of the shared files. The three shares I added still say I need permission to access. I know I gave permission to "Everyone" to have "Full Control", but maybe I missed something. My Acronis can even access the device now. But I still haven't figured out how to see the files on the backup so I can recover them. That's just one more thing to do to get back up to where I was before this repair place trashed my prior laptop.