Windows 11 can't see network printers SD or USB drive where as my windows 10 PC can

[Format _C:]

Windows 11 can't see network printers SD or USB drive where as windows 10 can how can I fix this if at all? Not a big issue as the printer is like 6 feet away but still I would like to be able to be able to batch scan without removing the USB stick or the SD card

Printer is an Epson XP-7100 that I mainly use to scan for my "real" printing I have an HP LaserJet P1606DN

Here are 2 pictures showing what I mean

Thanks in advance

 

[travm]

windows has been borked like this for 30 years. I recall an issue with win 98 and win ME at a lan party where everyone with win ME could see each other, but anyone with win98 could not. They were basically the same version of windows. Unfortunately everything you want to run runs on windows. Alternative OS's require decades to configure to work, and constantly break themselves. Welcome to computers. Grow vegetables for fun, then you'll only be angry at rabbits, and you can eat them if you so desire.

 

[GiGaBiTe]

Printer issues in Windows? I'd recommend praying to whatever deity you worship, or perform a satanic ritual and hope that solves the problem. Otherwise, throw the printer away and buy a new one.

Windows will refuse to see/use a printer if you look at it in a way which doesn't please it. I've had many customers and friends over the years with printers that just stop working with their machines, and literally nothing would fix it, even blowing away the OS and reinstalling completely.

A lot of those network share things are unsolvable permissions and protocol issues SNMP being one, but there are many. If things aren't exactly perfect on both devices, it will never work.

 

[Tol]

What created that shortcut? Can you get to it via IP? \\192.168.x.x That looks like your machine's DNS just doesn't know where to go with \\epson-xp-7100.

You can also check that you have Network Discovery and possibly File and printer sharing turn On from Control Panel > (View network status and tasks or Network and Sharing Center) > Change advanced sharing settings

 

[travm]

What created that shortcut? Can you get to it via IP? \\192.168.x.x That looks like your machine's DNS just doesn't know where to go with \\epson-xp-7100.

You can also check that you have Network Discovery and possibly File and printer sharing turn On from Control Panel > (View network status and tasks or Network and Sharing Center) > Change advanced sharing settings

I don't know how many times I've had to mess around deep in the network settings to make stuff like this work. Often broken with windows updates

 

[Format _C:]

What created that shortcut? Can you get to it via IP? \\192.168.x.x That looks like your machine's DNS just doesn't know where to go with \\epson-xp-7100.

I created that shortcut with my Windows 10 PC but if I type in the //epson-xp-7100 I still can't get to the printer.

I can access it via the web browser (192.168.1.12) but that is just the printers built-in configuration page.
I can print with said printer but I'm trying to access the SD Card reader that the printer has on the front. I used to be able to see it fine with Windows 10 but 11 says the error in post #1

These screen shots were taken on my Windows 10 PC

 

[Tol]

I created that shortcut with my Windows 10 PC but if I type in the //epson-xp-7100 I still can't get to the printer.

I can access it via the web browser (192.168.1.12) but that is just the printers built-in configuration page.
I can print with said printer but I'm trying to access the SD Card reader that the printer has on the front. I used to be able to see it fine with Windows 10 but 11 says the error in post #1

These screen shots were taken on my Windows 10 PC

I would expect that if you open a command prompt and "ping epson-xp-7100", you'll see it reach 192.168.1.12 in Win10 but if you do the same from the Win11 machine, it will fail.

If you've already verified that Network Discovery is turned on(and I'd turn on File and printer sharing, as well) you can try going to \\192.168.1.12\MEMORYCARD or \\192.168.1.12\EPSCAN.

 

[Format _C:]

I would expect that if you open a command prompt and "ping epson-xp-7100", you'll see it reach 192.168.1.12 in Win10 but if you do the same from the Win11 machine, it will fail.

Nope I got the ping to go through on my Windows 11 machine just fine

But typing in "\\192.168.1.12\MEMORYCARD" gets an unknown error I mean really Microsoft unknown error LoL!

 

[GiGaBiTe]

I mean really Microsoft unknown error LoL!

 

[travm]

I don't remember the specifics. But I had a router (not long ago, like last year) that had a "security flaw" that was common among routers. Low risk and obscure. But windows by default disabled software required for file sharing to work on networks using this old protocol. To get it to work I had to dive extremely deep into Windows settings (add/remove windows features I recall) to install this software. Doing so made it work instantly. However it was broken at every windows update. Hence buy a new printer.

 

[michalrz]

These issues were a big part of my life.
Companies (local government) I worked at couldn't justify buying new printers whenever Microsoft shat out a new Windows, but at the same time not upgrading Windows left us with swiss cheese machines, and that was a no-no.

A lot of those network share things are unsolvable permissions and protocol issues SNMP being one, but there are many.

I don't know how many times I've had to mess around deep in the network settings to make stuff like this work.

It might be something SMB or NTLM-related which needs explicit setting via group policy. And re-setting after every other patch Tuesday.

I don't want to say Windows networking is retarded full stop, because I realize people with certs often have these things down good and know exactly what to do.
In my case, it was sadly just switch, reboot everything (including the printer), retry.
I guess "net view <IP>" might show you more interesting things than ping, but I'm not sure about that.

One way to get this shit to work was right-clicking on your printer icon, and manually adding a "port". Instead of USB or COM0 or whatever, you'd type in the printer share name in UNC form (\\asshole\assholes_printer). I remember this working quite good.

 

[pendragon1]

try dumbing down youre security settings like below and then reboot everything. see if you can access them via explorer after.

 

[mb25]

You might try to enable SMB1 (SMB 1.0/CIFS-Client should be sufficient) in Windows features.
SMB1 is blocked in Win11 and i had the same issue with my Epson WF-3620 not accessing the usb memory anymore, wheras my win 10 did.
By enabling it again it all worked fine!
\\Epsonxxxxxx\USBSTORAGE\EPSCAN\