I'm having problems browsing the Windows Network Neighborhood for machines in a different subnet.

I am able to map a network drive if I explicitly specify it in the Map Network Drive configuration window i.e:

Drive: Z
Folder: \\computer_name_in_different_subnet\folder_name

If I try to map the folder by clicking on the Browse button the only computer that shows up in the Network window is my local machine.

Do I need to open any additional ports to be able to browse/view machines in other subnets?

that is a Windows OS question not OpenWrt
the way i do it everything is in same subnet

thanks, but I don't think it's a Windows OS problem. If I only access machines in the same subnet, everything works fine for me as well. I only encounter problems going to the different subnet, which is on the Openwrt router.

Set the OpenWrt on same subnet

That IS a Windows problem. Windows is designed that way. It is not supposed to work across different subnets.

(Last edited by qasdfdsaq on 9 Jul 2014, 20:38)

btw you can use ip instead of name and it will work

Thanks for your responses everyone, but I still think it is a router question.

I don't agree that Windows isn't designed to work on different subnets because there are a lot of big companies that have many subnets in a Windows environment and PC's accessing folders that are on servers housed in large data centers. If Windows didn't work on different subnets, these companies would have to use *nix servers running Samba for PC's to get to the data, and while some companies do that, many don't and stick with Windows.

So what am I missing?

well you are sure that your OS can do something just because "it must be able to do that! big companies use this os!"

that is a wrong starting point imho.

anyway if it's a router problem why don't you try another couple of different routers with completely different firmwares to see if something change?

Irrelevant. Big companies have things such as DNS, Active Directory,  and DFS, which negates the need for local subnet broadcast based discovery.

The point is, it can be done because others are doing it.

I have DNS, so do I need an active directory server to be able to browse Windows servers in different subnets?

You have already been told how you can access the contents of any server on any network.

You have already been told that the ability to browse servers outside of the local subnet is intentionally disabled by Microsoft.

If you're unhappy with these answers then you can to try implement various hacks to trick Windows into doing something it was specifically designed not to do. I'm not going to help you with that.

(Last edited by qasdfdsaq on 10 Jul 2014, 16:27)

I believe you can do this by using a WINS server, and by announcing that WINS server using DHCP.

I'm not too familiar with Windows so can't give any info on how to set it up.  Here's an article on doing so.

Once setup you should modify /etc/config/dhcp for each subnet's DHCP server to announce the WINS server.

/etc/config/dhcp:

config dhcp 'lan'
    option interface 'lan'
    ...
    list dhcp_option '44,192.168.0.10'

modify the IP to match the machine hosting the WINS server.

Thanks Middling. I'll look into the WINS Server.

Samba also implements a WINS server, so if you've a *nix box somewhere (or enough space on your OpenWrt router) you could try that.

Cerowrt has a page with more details.

You should keep in mind that you'll only be able to do the older-style network neighbourhood browsing.  Windows 7 brought in "Homegroups" which use completely different discovery and communication protocols and i don't believe there's any way of reflecting them between subnets.

I wish Windows would get with the times and use the Apple/*nix preferred way of service discovery.  After struggling with the Windows method, mDNS/DNS-SD/Zeroconf is a dream to use and reflecting between subnets requires just one line in the Avahi config file.

I wish Windows stays as it is, as it actually plays nice with corporate networks, unlike Mac OS which loves to violate network standards, spam broadcasts everywhere, and trip security monitoring and IDS all over by deliberately stealing other devices' IPs.

One of the corporate networks I used to deal with came close to banning Apple devices altogether because of this.

(Last edited by qasdfdsaq on 11 Jul 2014, 13:46)

This might be already resolved, but...
Windows uses broadcasts to find other computers that are in the SAME network. Routers receive that broadcast and don't pass it along.
SO, "browsing" the network only works on the same subnet... EVEN in BIG companies.
In big companies, they create FILE SERVERS with DFS and people are informed of their address (or names) and have to map the file share they want to access. The DFS is responsible to find the server that is sharing that resource
Well... this is how windows network works.
If you want to browse all your computers, you will have to put then in the same subnet.

Sorry for my bad english.

(Last edited by digital on 12 Jul 2014, 16:45)