Windows 10 turn on network discovery: The network discovery feature allows windows 11 and windows 10 users to find the systems that are connected to the same network. Once this network discovery feature is enabled then our system communicates with other systems by sending broadcast messages.
This feature is very useful when the system needs to share certain network resources such as files, printers, and so on. Given this, it would be very easy for attackers to access resources. Therefore, this function is usually enabled for private networks (home, organization) and disabled for public networks (cafes, airports).
You can work with Network Discovery in three states.
ON: Your system can find all other devices and all other devices on the network and find your system.
OFF: In this state, your system cannot find any other device. In addition, other systems cannot find your device.
Custom: In this state, only some network discovery settings are enabled.
Methods
This article will walk you through how to enable and disable Windows 10 turn on network discovery methods.
Users are not advised to enable network discovery for public network accounts. Your computer resources are vulnerable to attackers when network discovery is enabled on a public network. Therefore, you need to make sure that network discovery is turned off when your computer is connected to a public network.
Regardless of whether you want to enable or disable network discovery, there are several ways to disable/enable it. Here’s how to enable network discovery in Windows 10 and disable it in four different ways.
Method 1: Enable or disable Windows 10 turn on network discovery via network and sharing center.
Step 1: Click the magnifying glass button next to the Start menu to open this search tool.
Step 2: Enter the keyword “Manageadvanced sharing settings” in the search box.
Step 3: Then click on Manage advanced sharing settings from the search results to open the window that appears right below it.
Step 4: Click on the Private account to expand it.
Step 5: Then select the radio button Turn on network discovery “Enable network discovery“. You can disable network discovery by clicking the “Disable network discovery” option.
Step 6: If you want to enable printer and file sharing on your network, you should also select the “Enable file and printer sharing” option there.
Step 7: Click the arrow for the Guest or Public section to expand that category, as in the snippet directly below.
Step 8: To enable network discovery in Windows 10 for public accounts, select the “Enable network discovery” setting there. Select the opposite option if you want to disable network discovery for public network profiles.
Step 9: To further configure your network settings, click the All-Networks arrow. You can then select options for sharing public folders, encrypting file sharing links, and password-protected sharing.
Step 10: Click the “Save changes” button there to apply the new settings.
Method 2: Enable or disable Windows 10 turn on network discovery using Settings
Step 1: Open Settings first, which you can do by pressing the Windows key and I at the same time.
Step 2: Click Network & Internet to open this settings category.
Step 3: Select the Wi–Fi, Ethernet, or Dial–up tab depending on the type of internet connection you have.
Step 4: Then double-click on your listed internet connection to open the options in the snapshot directly below.
Step 5: Select the “Public” option to disable network discovery in Windows 10. To enable network discovery, you must select the “Private” option.
These “Public” and “Private” options change your network profile. By default, network discovery is enabled for private network profiles in Windows 10 and disabled for public profiles, unless configured otherwise. In this way, selecting “Public” will disable network discovery unless you have configured this feature to enable it for public profiles via Network and Sharing in Control Panel.
Method 3: enable and disable Windows 10 turn on network discovery from the command line
Step 1: Command Prompt is a handy command-line tool that you can use to enable and disable network discovery in Windows 10. To open a command prompt, you must first click the “Type here to search” button on the system tray.
Step 2: Enter the command prompt in the search utility.
Step 3: On the command line, click the “Run as administrator” option.
Step 4: When prompted, enter netsh advfirewall Firewall set rule group = “Network Discovery” new enable = Yes. Then press Enter to run this command.
Step 5: To disable network discovery, enter netsh advfirewall Firewall set rule group = ”NetworkDiscovery” new enable = No when prompted. Press Enter to run this command.
Note: this method allows network discovery for all network profiles. If this feature is only enabled for one account, you will need to configure it via the control panel as shown for the first method.
Method 4: enable and disable Windows 10 turn on network discovery using PowerShell
Step 1: PowerShell is an alternative command-line tool that allows users to enable and disable network discovery as well. To access it, open the Windows 10 search tool.
Step 2: You can then type PowerShell in the search utility text box to find this utility from the command line.
Step 3: Right-click Windows PowerShell and select Run as administrator to start this utility from the command line. Me
Step 4: Enter this command in the PowerShell window: Get-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup ‘Network Discovery‘ | Set-NetFirewallRule -Profile ‘Private, Domain‘ –Enabled true. This command enables network discovery for public and private network profiles when you press Enter.
Step 5: To disable network discovery, enter this command: Get-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup ‘Network Discovery’ | Set-NetFirewallRule -Profile ‘Personal, Domain’ -Enabled incorrectly. Then press Enter to run the command.
Method 5: Enable Windows 10 turn on network discovery using file explorer
Step 1: If Network Discovery is disabled, File Explorer will provide an option to enable this feature. To open File Explorer, press Windows + E to do so.
Step 2: Then click on Network on the left side of the file explorer.
Step 3: If network discovery is disabled, you will see a network dialog box displayed directly below it. Click OK in this window.
Step 4: Then click on the text bar that appears just below it to open a small menu that has the option “Enable network discovery and filesharing”.
Step 5: Select the “Enable network discovery and file sharing” setting option.
Requirements for changes:
You must have administrator rights to make changes To enable network discovery, the following services must have a status of Running and type of Autostart DNS client SSDP Detect UPnP device host Feature discovery resource publication Feature discovery host provider To check the same, do the following:
Step 1: Press Windows Key + R together, this will open the playback window.
Step 2: Type services.msc and press Enter
Step 3: In the Services window, under the Name column, look for the above service and check its startup status and type. For example, in the screenshot below, the DNS client service is running and has a startup type.
If it doesn’t work, just double-click the DNS client and click Start to start the service, and set the startup type to Automatic.
FAQs
Q. Do I have to be logged in to an administrator account to enable and disable network discovery in Windows 10?
Yes, you need advanced administrator rights to configure network discovery in Windows 10. Users with standard accounts must change to Administrator.
Q. Can Windows Firewall block network discovery?
Yes, so you need to check the allowed settings of the Windows Firewall application. You can open these settings by going to Control Panel and clicking System Security > Windows Defender Firewall > Allowed Applications. Then make sure that the Network checkbox is selected for network discovery under Allowed Applications.
Q. How can I share folders and file resources with network discovery enabled?
In File Explorer, right-click the folder you want to share with other devices on your network and select Access > Specific People. Then select “All” from the drop-down menu in the window that appears directly below. Click the “Add” button and click “OK” to exit the window. The shared resource will then be displayed in File Explorer on the web.
Q. Allowed application firewall settings in Windows 10
Third-party antivirus firewalls can also potentially interfere with network detection. So, make sure to check the firewall options for any third-party antivirus that you have installed on your computer.
Q. Do other Windows platforms have network discovery? Yes, you can select network discovery settings via the Control Panel’s Network and Sharing Center in Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 8.1.
Conclusion on Windows 10 turn on network discovery
In general, Windows 10 turn on network discovery is a useful Windows feature for sharing folders, files, and printers between different computers on a private network. So it’s a good idea to enable this feature if you have multiple Windows 10 computers with the same internet connection.
Make sure you have a highly secure encryption protocol for your Wi-Fi network to prevent eavesdropping on the network. However, if you don’t have multiple computers to share resources with, you can turn off network discovery. Thanks for reading.
