Laptop with home and work networks

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I am using a work laptop running Windows 10 that is configured to access a network at work. When I bring it home, I have no problem accessing the WiFi network at home for Internet access, but the laptop is unable to see any other devices on the home network (printer, NAS) via WiFi. No problems if I connect the laptop with an Ethernet cable, but this isn’t always practical.

Any suggestions for how to fix this? I’m leery of fiddling too much with the laptop’s network settings in case I mess up the work connection (I do go into the physical office from time to time, but getting network tech support during COVID is challenging).

I can live with doing the wired connection at home if necessary as I don’t often need the printer or to access server files, but absolutely need the work connection to remain stable. Even so, it would be nice not to need the cable at home if possible.

Thanks in advance for suggestions and advice.

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The home wifi connection is different to the work wifi one, so if you don’t make too many changes you should have no issues at work.

Connect the ethernet cable and check the connection properties. It should be set to “private network”. Pull the cable and connect the wifi. Properties should also show “private network”.

To change network type, see this MS post.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/make-a-wi-fi-network-public-or-private-in-windows-10-0460117d-8d3e-a7ac-f003-7a0da607448d

cheers, Paul

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Thanks. The home network is indeed private, whether on cable or wifi, but the laptop still doesn’t see anything via wifi. Other suggestions?

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At work are you using a Domain Server or Peer-to-Peer networking?

What is the Workgroup set to? The default for Windows is “Workgroup” maybe they changed it to something else at work?

Do you have other computers at home? If so what is their Workgroup set to?

This is just a partial list of what might be causing the problem.

HTH 😎

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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This is a very helpful suggestion. I will check, but I’m pretty sure work is set to a domain server and I’ll see what the home workgroup is.

I assume there’s some way to change the settings on the laptop to reflect both of these, correct?

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When we get to Domain Servers we’re out of my comfort zone. If you find you’re set to use a DS I’d check with your LAN support people on your options for switching to a peer-to-peer network and back.

HTH 😎

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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WSila wrote:
I have no problem accessing the WiFi network at home for Internet access, but the laptop is unable to see any other devices on the home network (printer, NAS) via WiFi. No problems if I connect the laptop with an Ethernet cable

Don’t mean to offend, friend, by suggesting consideration of something so basic, but I do find myself wondering this: may we assume that the laptop and other devices are all connected to the _same non-“guest” wireless network_?

Most commercial routers support multiple wireless networks these days, and often some type of guest network intentionally designed to force device isolation…

Just a thought, intended to be constructive, and submitted with respect. Hope this helps.

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Thanks, no, they’re on the same network.

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Hmmmm. Out of curiosity, can you ping printer (using current IP address of printer) from your laptop?

If yes, any chance you might be able to add printer via TCP/IP port? (If printer is using DHCP to get IP address, setup might not be long-term stable as IP address might change, but if you’re the only user and you don’t print much… maybe?)

Hope this helps.

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Check your advanced network sharing settings using Control Panel for the Wi-Fi network. Make sure network discovery is enabled and file/printer sharing is enabled.

Do you know if there are any Group Policy settings from work and what they are?

--Joe

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Most businesses frown on allowing business laptops to access home or other networks, because of the risk of malware and viruses infecting your laptop, and then infecting their network. You may want to look at the business computer policy, or if you can’t find it, ask your help desk for the policy on  company laptops use at home.

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johnf wrote:

Most businesses frown on allowing business laptops to access home or other networks,

That’s nonsense. How do you think millions of enterprise staff have been able to work from home over the last year?

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[johnf]

There’s a difference between accessing work via the internet from home with vpn and/or citrix and accessing your router without those safeguards. If the user was trying to access their home network, that would mean that they are potentially accessing home servers and any device on that peer to peer network without proper protection.

There’s no way to ensure that the local network hasn’t been compromised. Your average home router does not compare to a properly maintained Cisco router, which is constantly being updated and is locked down via complex, constantly changed passwords, MAC addresses, monitored for remote attacks, etc by an IT staff.

A lot of people don’t change passwords on the router at all, using the defaults, and may not even password protect access to their wireless. When the user brings such a compromised laptop to work, it’s fairly easy to spread malware like ransomware, since it’s attacking behind the firewall. If a hospital allows this, then the hospital can be fined for HIPAA violations, which can result in massive fines.

You may be right, though…we see constant stories of user data hacks, zombie networks, and Social Security Number dumps, so it’s possible companies aren’t as serious about security as they should be. I wouldn’t want my private data exposed because of this, would you???

• This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by johnf.

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I appreciate everyone’ suggestions. Nothing seems to have worked so far and it may not be worth the additional effort to hunt down a mysterious setting just for the occasional print job etc. I think I will just use the cable when needed.

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WSila wrote:

the laptop is unable to see any other devices on the home network (printer, NAS) via WiFi. No problems if I connect the laptop with an Ethernet cable,

Some routers have a setting that isolates wifi from the wired Ethernet like that. Look for that in the router or AP settings… was annoying when I bought a WiFi-enabled printer and wife wanted to put it somewhere we didn’t have a wire to, heh.

johnf wrote:

Most businesses frown on allowing business laptops to access home or other networks,

Yes, corporate security policy enforcement is a possible reason, but in that case if it allows access in an unknown wired network there might be something wrong with it.

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