Cannot turn on Network Discovery

[Mr. DR]

This is newly installed Windows Vista Home Premium desktop connected with Linksys router via Ethernet cable. Problem is I’m not able to turn on Network Discovery. Whenever I go into Network and Sharing Center, system shows me “Custom”. Somebody suggested me to uninstall any third party firewall if installed. Well I was having Norton on my system, as per the instructions I uninstalled it. Now there is only the built-in Windows Firewall but still the problem exists.

While searching for another help I came through this Microsoft article http://technet.microsoft.com/library/bb727037 which says to allowed the TCP and UDP ports on my router. I did that as well but still no success.

Any help please?

[Jason A]

Is your router’s SSID turned ON or OFF? If it is Off then select manual network setup and enter the following details: Network name, encryption details and any shared network key. On the connections tab, make sure to check mark the box for “Connect even if your network is not broadcasting box.”

Otherwise, simply login to your router by putting 192.168.2.1 in your browser address bar. Login with your username and password and turn On the SSID broadcasting.

[Mr. DR]

Thank you very much for the reply Jason but the SSID Broadcasting is already turned on in my router. Any other help please?

[Techguru01]

As this is the fresh installed Vista system and you started getting this issue since start, I strongly suspect some required services are stopped which should be running. Just type services.msc in your start search field, hit enter. In the services applet make sure the following services are running:

• SSDP Discovery
• TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
• Computer Browser
• Server

[ApPy10]

To me it seems like issue with your computer browser. By the way are you bale to ping each other during the problem?

[benmess]

Just would like to say a big THANK YOU for the info of looking in the services bit! I've been looking everywhere to see why i couldn't start network discovery and it was because the SSDP was disabled for some reason! I had the same problem, but I knew all the services were running, and I finally figured out that the Firewall was blocking the Network Discovery.

Did you try going to network and sharing>under network discovery ensure is enable, or else just click on the down arrow and turn it on

In my case the windows firewall was blocking it. I had to allow network connections by making blocking an exception in the windows firewall settings. (Go to windows firewall, change settings, exceptions tab, and click network discovery. Hopefully this helps some people who have the same issue.

[HD_Dave]

On Windows 7:

Don't forget "UPnP Device Services" !!!!!!

Once I started that up, I was able to enable Network Discovery (don't forget to save your setting). However, my PS3 was not able to discover my laptop until I turned them both off. Then I turned my laptop back on, verfied Network Discovery was still on, then turned on my PS3 and it had already found my Windows 7 laptop media server.

[NiTRO777]

I had the same problem but an entirely different solution.

After much head-scratching and trial & error, here is what I eventually did to solve the problem:

Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services

Scroll down to "Internet Connection Sharing". If this is disabled, as was in my case for some reason, right click on 'disable' and choose 'Automatic' and save changes. Then to the upper left, click 'start services'. It should now work.

[ruafreebird]

I have tried all of these suggestion but still cannot turn on Network Discovery. It always reverts back to 'OFF'.

I made sure that all the services were started, but still cannot turn it on.

My HD crashed recently. Everything was working fine at that time. I installed a new HD and the original Vista Home Premium OS. Everything works fine except my network adapter. Actually, it appears as working properly, too. I disabled and reenabled it. I talked with Gateway and they sent me another driver, but when I tried to install it, my system said that the one I already have is the best.

My adapter is an Intel 100/Pro VE Network Connective. I tried turning the wireless on using the Fn key. Nothing happens so I don't know if it's working or not. I've updated the drivers. I've tried to turn on Network Discovery to no avail. Whenever I try to connect I get a message that says my wireless hardware is not installed and configured.

Any ideas?

[void]

To solve this problem, you will just have to turn on two services which are there in the services.msc and that are SSDP and Universal plug and play. After doing that when you go back to network discovery then you will find the issue resolved. I hope that this will help you. Please reply back.