Windows 10 detects network devices, not listed on router

S

Sonicks

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 24, 2005
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There's this 'issue' that's been bugging me for a while now: Windows 10 network page shows all my networked devices plus two more, a Samsung-TV and an HTC One M8 phone. I don't own a Samsung TV nor an HTC One. They don't appear 24/7 but do pop in every now and then for extended periods of time.

Both of them report a MAC address but no other information.

While they appear on my network, I've logged into my router and none of these devices show up as connected or as having ever attempted a connection. I don't use default passwords for my router login and my WiFi is secured by a WPA-PSK password.

How are these two devices showing up? Is someone connecting to my WiFi and really being that sneaky? I don't really want to have to resort to MAC filtering as it's annoying when I have guests over but I may need to give that a shot if it continues to bug me.
 
Hmm thats kinda weird. Try changing your SSID and Wifi password. See if those device show up again.

There are lots of hacking tools out their that can crack your wifi password.
 
Does you computer have Wifi or is it wired?

If you have a Wifi card in your system, it's likely that a neighbor has an open Wifi access point and you are occasionally connecting to it.
 
I have my desktop connected over WiFi and a hardwire to my Macbook 'server' which itself has WiFi disabled.

I didn't think about it randomly connecting to a nearby open WiFi. Although I would think if it did connect, however briefly, it would show those 2 devices but none of my other ones.

I'll check that out when I get home. Thanks.
 
Checked setting that allows looking for other networks while connected to one and it was already disabled.

I changed the SSID/password and disabled WPS.

Interestingly enough, after the SSID/pw change, the devices still showed up briefly then dropped off after 10 minutes. I'll keep monitoring it to see if they show up again.

Still no evidence of either of those MAC addresses on my router.
 
Did you used to own either of these devices or at least something from the same manufacturer? The first part of the MAC address identifies the vendor, so perhaps its finding something similar?
 
I have the same problem: Windows 10 Pro that is wired only "sees" wireless network devices that aren't on my network. I guess my router was passing along the signals but I don't know why. Fortunately it had a MAC address blacklist feature so I was able to get rid of my neighbor's security cameras, cell phones and HP printers, but it takes effort. Time to upgrade.
 
Could be a few things. Does your desktop have bluetooth? Perhaps they are advertising bluetooth and windows says they are available that way. Just because something is advertising over wifi does not necessarily mean you are actually connecting to it.
 
The PC doesn't have bluetooth, and it's only network cable goes directly to the router, so that must be it. I wish Win 10 had a blacklist feature.
 
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